


The Minister's daughter

by malfoybella



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1940s, 1945, Eventual Romance, F/M, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Love/Hate, Mentions of Death, Seventh year, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Teenage Tom Riddle, Wizarding World (Harry Potter), Young Tom Riddle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:48:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 52,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27881006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malfoybella/pseuds/malfoybella
Summary: "I am not stupid, Arabella, and that you thought I'd believe any of your lies is, in all honesty, deeply amusing"--It's Arabella's and Tom's seventh year at Hogwarts. Even if they are both part of the same house and share some of the same friends, they never quite got along, but what will happen now that they are both Head Boy and Head Girl, forcing them to interact?
Relationships: Lestrange/Original female character, Mulciber/Original female character, Tom Riddle/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

It’s not terrible. I expect you to improve your Herbology grade now that you’ve dropped Arithmancy and transfiguration, Arabella.”

“Yes father, of course, last year was just particularly difficult due to-“

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. Do I have to remind you who you are? Who your ancestors were?”

“No, father.”

“Good. You are dismissed.” he concluded, leaning back once again on his leather arm chair.

She exited his office with the parchment with her grades in hand.

Walking down the hallway, she suddenly heard two very familiar voices coming from the Entry Hall. Without a second thought, she immediately ran in the direction of the sound, leather shoes clicking against the hardwood flooring.

“Abraxas, Victor! I didn’t know you were coming!” She said as she walked through the archway, heading straight for her friends.

Her smile was wide and this time, it finally met her eyes. It didn’t seem to want to go away either, as it was glued to her features. The redhead girl then leaded the two teenage boys into the lounge

“Thought we’d pay you a visit before we left.” Rosier plopped himself on the couch right across the one she was sitting in while Abraxas seemed in a trance, entirely focused on examining the bookshelves. A few whispers could be heard from the paintings in the room, some of the ones located here where some of the biggest gossipers in the manor.

“Are you sure you can’t try to convince your father to let you come?” he said as he stepped away from the books, letting himself fall onto the couch next to Victor.

“I tried my best and he’s still saying no. He’s not the happiest with me at the moment so I don’t want to test my luck, either.” Victor’s brows rose in surprise.

“How come?” “Getting into any trouble without telling us?” Abraxas said from besides him.

“I got an exceeds expectations in Herbology and Astronomy.”

“God forbid you get anything less than an outstanding,” Abraxas said, voice dripping with irony “Rosier, if your parents shared the same expectations as Selwyn you would have been kicked out a long time ago.” he joked, earning a kick on the ribs from the dark haired boy.

After a while of catching up, even though they had only been away for two weeks it was time for the two boys to depart.

“We better get going, you know my father doesn’t like to wait.” Victor said, rising up from the couch, shortly followed by Abraxas.

They then headed to the fireplace, Victor stepping first. “Rosier Manor.” he said as he threw floo powder, disappearing from the room.

“Bring me a seashell back?” The girl said as Abraxas stepped into the fireplace.

“Too much effort.”, he responded with a hint of humour. She rolled her eyes at him, but a hint of humour could be seen in her face.

“Rosier Manor.” he repeated what Victor had said seconds before.

\---

A soft knock could be heard against the tall white doors that lead to Arabella’s bedroom. “Come in.” she simply said, as she did her hair in a half-updo, tying the upper part with a ribbon.

“Albert asked Phaerille to inform mistress that she should be ready to depart in ten minutes. He also asked Phaerille to leave this to mistress.” the house elf said, leaving a bag with what she assumed would probably be floo powder.

“Thanks, Phaerille. Would you please mind taking this to the library for me?” She said, handing the elf a stack of three books.

The elf’s ears twitched backwards and a smile tugged at its face. “Mistress Arabella is so compassionate… she treats Phaerille like an equal.” the elf said, probably talking to itself more than to the redhead girl, as it turned around and left the room, books in hand.

Finally happy with her appearance, Arabella took the bag the elf had left for her as well as a leather backpack that she hung over her right shoulder.

She then headed downstairs, skipping steps as she walked down the stairs. She was met with her father, who already was waiting for her. “You will have to go by yourself today, I have just been told about an emergency at the Ministry I need to take care of."

“Do you think you will be alright?” It was only then when she took his appearance in, noticing his formal attire and the stack of papers in his hands. “Of course, father”

“When you get there stick by Malfoy and Rosier, okay?” the smallest hint of concern could be heard in his voice. Arabella interpreted his comment more as an insult to her character, almost as if she wasn’t entirely able to take care of herself, but decided to ignore it, simply nodding instead.

His father watched her for a few seconds, before he decided to speak again. “Well, I better get going then. I expect great things from you this year.” was all he said before he apparated, leaving her alone.

Arabella then turned around and walked to a portrait, who was watching her intently. Her hand raised instinctively towards it, not quite touching it but only a few millimetres away.

Her face was now far from its usual stoic expression, as her eyes looked almost worshipful and her whole face seemed softer, more childlike.

“I’ll see you in a few months.” she murmured softly to the figure in the painting, who shared the same hair colour as her and gave her the same adoring gaze in return. “Have fun” the image of her mother said.

A painting would never replace the warmth of her mother, of course, but it brought some comfort, so even if talking to a painting appeared as pathetic to some, one of those including her own father, she still did it.

Walking away then and heading to the nearest fireplace, she opened the bag and took some powder. “King Cross station.” she said, her eyes still glued to the image on the wall.

\---

“Arabella!” she heard Veronica’s silvery voice as a pair of arms came to wrap around her, citrus invading her nostrils. She reciprocated the gesture.

When she pulled away, she saw that Adelaine had made her way over, as well. She then noticed how different all three of them looked.

Arabella had snow white skin, with freckles all over it. Her eyes were icy grey, much like her father's.

Veronica was the shortest of the trio, with golden skin and wavy dark hair, just the slightest bit darker than her eyes. She also had the prettiest nose Arabella had ever seen.

Adelaine was the tallest, although not by a lot. Her skin was dark with warm undertones and her hair was now perfectly styled in chunky box braids. Her eyes often reminded her of onyx. She also had an incredible sense of style.

Adelaine then took the lead, and guided them onto the train. Easily enough, they quickly found an empty carriage in the Slytherin part of the train, where they slid onto.

“How was your summer?” Veronica asked her “It was good, I suppose. Victor and Abraxas invited me to the Bahamas but my father didn’t allow me to go. We spent most of the summer in Portofino, it was incredibly boring.” “How come? I’ve heard Portofino is mesmerizing.” Adelaine asked, her left eyebrow slightly raised in curiosity

“No, Portofino was beautiful, the problem was that my father never left me out of his leash. He had meetings almost every day and he didn’t even let me explore by myself, so I spent most days sitting in the house we rented.”

“When is your father going to let you breathe? Merlin, you are of age already.” Veronica said, a little exasperated.

“Enough about me, how about you guys?” “Oh yeah! Just before we saw you Adelaine was telling me all about her adventures with Mulciber this summer.” she said as she lifted her eyebrows playfully to the girl beside her.

Adelaine rolled her eyes, but a playful smile still tugged at her lips “He invited me over to their family house in the Alps. It was lovely, truly.” as she explained further her eyes turned dreamy, but the fantasies in her head were cut short when Arabella spoke

“Is our little Adelaine whipped? Never thought I’d see the day." she said with a smirk while focusing her attention on the girl in front of her.

On cue, Veronica continued “Oh, I can already see them in a mansion with mini Mulcibers running around the place.” she teased, and Adelaine shoved her softly.

Almost on cue, by the door appeared Mulciber along with Avery, Malfoy, Lestrange, Rosier and Riddle. The latter one was leading the way, walking confidently as the rest followed behind.

It was almost a funny sight, as Riddle appeared serious and composed while Malfoy had Rosier in a headlock and Avery was elbowing Lestrange in the ribs. Even through the doors, they could hear them laughing.

Then, once they finally came to a realization of the presence of the three girls, Mulciber opened the door “Is there space for two in here?” He said as he and Lestrange popped their heads in the carriage.

Lestrange had been trying rather desperately, if you asked Arabella, to get Veronica to go on a date with him. So far it hadn’t worked though and there was no doubt that he would be trying to woo her the whole ride to the school.

After having that realization, Arabella immediately rose from her seat, and a few of them shot curious glances to her. Mulciber and Lestrange didn’t seem to particularly mind, as they sat where Arabella had previously been, a smirk plastered on their faces.

Veronica though didn’t seem so happy, sending Arabella a not so friendly gesture as she stepped out of the carriage. Leaving her roommates behind, she walked between Malfoy and Rosier, who briefly informed her about their summer.

They found a place to sit rather quickly, with Malfoy, Rosier and Selwyn sitting on one side and Avery and Riddle right across from her.

It was quite an unusual sight for anyone who knew them, really, as Arabella rarely mixed with Riddle or Avery, but she preferred it to third wheeling with Adelaine and Mulciber and watching Lestrange’s attempts at wooing Veronica.

Truth was, she didn’t have much of a problem with Avery. He often found pleasure in terrorizing Gryffindors and first years, but he was quite nice to the people of his own house. Riddle was the problem.

It had been a gut feeling that she had stuck with ever since their first year. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint why but she could tell that Riddle had a very dark aura surrounding him.

He was perfectly polite, of course, and he always kept up with his classes and responsibilities. He was also quite popular amongst the students, who seemed to look up to him, and even with the teachers, who seemed to admire him.

With the only exception of Dumbledore, who even though had a general dislike for the entirety of the Slytherin house seemed especially suspicious of him.

The boys were a strange group, really. It was almost more of a cult than a friend group, with the way most of them seemed to worship him. At least that’s what Avery, Mulciber and Lestrange did. Curiously enough, even though she would consider Malfoy and Rosier to be some of her closest friends, she didn’t quite know what they thought of him.

She had felt ever since stepping in the train how the energy seemed different this year, almost charged with a powerful energy that hadn’t been there before, and she wasn’t exactly sure if she liked it.

In the seat across hers, Tom was distracted from what was happening at the moment, thinking instead about the people surrounding him. So far his task of finding the founder’s objects had brought little success, as they had to work slowly to be able to keep their activity under the radar and that, under Tom’s opinion, some of his knights were quite useless, really, when it came to using their brains.

That’s why he had tried befriending Malfoy and Rosier and even if they were perfectly amicable towards him, he could tell that their loyalties didn’t quite lie with him. Perhaps he could convince Rosier with a little bit of work, but Malfoy seemed to be completely careless of anything involving him, too occupied with his aristocratic lifestyle and Quidditch.

A sudden realization came to him, as he finally came to his senses.

Right in front of him, having been there for sixth years, the part of the trio he had completely dismissed and perhaps, the one that could provide the most help. There was one problem there, of course, and it was that Arabella Selwyn had never liked him.

He realized then that, if he wanted his plans to succeed, he would need to make Arabella trust him.

Not only did Malfoy and Rosier trust her completely, so if she were to trust him both of them would follow suit, she was also the daughter of the minister of magic, which of course, came with a lot of advantages. A dark smirk tugged then at his lips and for a brief second, his eyes glowed red.

He wasn’t aware of it, of course, and neither were most people on the train, except for a certain pair of icy grey eyes that were probably too curious for their own good.

He then realized how she was looking at him and his features suddenly changed into a charming smile.

Not that Arabella bought it, of course, but she decided against making a comment on it, as perhaps the red in his eyes and the sudden change in his expression were a product of her imagination, yet something deep within her told her that she wasn’t wrong.

Her inner monologue was cut short when the very man that occupied her thoughts spoke up “Selwyn, I believe it’s time we head to the prefects carriage for the meeting.” he said while looking at her in the eyes.

She simply nodded before getting up just as he did the same thing. They didn’t talk immediately after rising from their seats, but it was only natural, as they would barely qualify as acquaintances at most.

Suddenly contributing to Arabella’s perception that this year would be nothing but normal, once they exited the carriage and were walking in the hallway, Tom spoke up.

“Had a good summer, Selwyn?” perhaps if she hadn’t known him better she would have believed that he actually cared, but of course, this was Tom Riddle, and his actions were rarely innocent.

“Yes, actually. Spent most of it in Portofino, a rather beautiful place. What about you, Riddle?” she simply answered, making good use of her experience in the many formal dinners she had attended to be able to make conversation even with the most boring of subjects.

It seemed like he had that same abilities despite his lack of an aristocratic upbringing, as he responded with ease “So have I heard. I spent most of it in Marseille, it was truly fantastic.”

“You stayed with the Lestranges? I heard they have an incredibly beautiful villa there."

“That’s correct. It was truly magical.” he said simply, but not once did his face match the excitement of his words.

They had already reached the prefects carriage by now. Riddle opened the door for her, to which she muttered a quick ‘thanks’ as she walked inside.

No one was there yet as they had to prepare the meeting before any of the prefects arrived.

Arabella wasn’t exactly pleased with being alone with him, but tried not to show it as she sat down beside him. Tom took the lead immediately starting to talk about duties, patrolling and what each one of the prefects should now, completely in his element.

It ended up being easy enough. With Riddle’s predisposition to leading, her assertiveness and the respect they both had from all of the prefects, it left her with a content feeling and the thought that maybe, things this year would be alright, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally in the Great Hall, Arabella sat with Adelaine to her right and Veronica to her left. In front of them were Abraxas and Victor and of course, Tom. She didn’t use to see him that much for the past years but they’d been here for a day and she hadn’t been able to get away from him so far.

Once headmaster’s Dippet welcome speech started she suddenly noticed professor Dumbledore absence from the table, but she doubted that he had been replaced as there were no new teachers on sight.

Almost as if the universe was reading her thoughts and wanting to give her an answer, once the speech ended and the feast began, a lonely owl came into sight dropping a letter right in front of her.

While most of her companions didn’t seem too much of it, Riddle didn’t miss the action, nor did he miss how Arabella’s features changed, her brows furrowed together and her forehead slightly scrunched up.

He didn’t miss either how she barely touched her food as she left the room just ten minutes after the feast started either.

Gripping the letter in her right hand, she stood in front of the transfigurations classroom as she reread the letter once more, almost to make sure that this was indeed directed to her.

Almost as if the professor was sensing her presence though, the door suddenly opened before her.

“Please, come in and take a seat, Miss Selwyn,” He said as he walked to his desk, making a chair move right in front of it with a simple movement of his wand. He also made a bowl of sweets she had never seen.

“I’m rather fond of these.” he muttered more to himself than to her as he picked one up, making her question if the ‘very urgent matter’ he had to discuss with her was actually his love for the lemon sweets.

She still picked one up though, as it seemed like it would be the only dinner she would be having. She had never had them before and truth was, they were quite good.

Her surprise probably showed on her features as Dumbledore smiled fondly “Sherbet Lemons. They’re a muggle sweet.” he explained. Finally sitting in his chair, his demeanour changed into something much more serious.

“You are probably wondering why I called you on such an urgent note,” the man said, to which she simply nodded.

“You see, Miss Selwyn, I fear I can’t share too much with you at the moment, but I felt in need to warn you.”

“What about, professor?” she asked, her brows raising slightly.

“We leave through dark times, Selwyn, but I fear that this circle of fear and chaos will not end soon. It’s crucial that we choose our battles and our alliances.”

“I’m sorry, but I fear I don’t understand, professor. Is this about Grinderwald?”

“Oh, no dear. Just, do me a favour, will you?” the man asked, earning a nod from her.

“Remember to seek the light, even if the circumstances make it hard to. It is the only thing that will save us, I fear.”

The man then got up from his seat, proceeding to pace around the room.

Taking it as a sign that the conversation was over, the teenager moved towards the door then.

Just as she was gripping the handle though, the professor spoke one last time “have a great year, Miss Selwyn.”

She exited the classroom then, her thoughts filled with questions that, at least for now, seemed like they couldn’t be answered just yet.

Turning around the corner, she was instantly met with Lestrange. It seemed like this year she would be talking a lot to people she would have never imagined, as her and Lestrange only ever talked when encountering each other in the common room with a brief ‘good morning’.

“Weren’t you hungry, Selwyn?”

It wasn’t an honest question, of course, as the only reason he was asking her this was because Riddle had sent him to follow her a few minutes after she had left the room, but of course, she couldn’t find that out.

“Not really. I presume you weren’t, either.” she pointed out

“What were you doing there, by the way?” he said as he moved from the wall he was leaning against, leading the way to the common room.

“I could ask the same thing. It’s not exactly normal to stand in a dark hallway while everyone is in the Great Hall, some might say you were up to something.” she spoke with a humorous tone, yet there was a slight edge to it.

“And do you believe them?” he asked, almost teasingly. Without caring for her answer though, he continued speaking “I was just walking towards the common room when I heard you from the classroom. I simply decided to wait for you.” he explained, faking his innocence.

“Didn’t think we were that close, Lestrange, for you to be waiting for me outside of classrooms. We’re hardly on a first name basis.” she said with a scoff while a smirk tugged at her lips “No one ever said friendships couldn’t blossom after first year, Arabella.” he quickly responded, making use of her first name for the first time.

Even in the dim lighting from the corridors, he could see her rolling her eyes at him, but her expression wasn’t entirely serious as there was a humorous atmosphere around them.

“You haven’t answered my question yet.” he told her as he turned to look at her, trying to read her expression. It didn’t change though, as she answered “He just called me to ask why I had decided to drop transfiguration.”

He wasn’t able to tell if she was lying or not, but seeing that she wasn’t going to give him any more information, he didn’t press any further.

They didn’t talk more on their way back, but it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable. Just before they reached the dungeons though, he broke the silence.

“Selwyn, would you mind giving this to Morris for me?” he said as he pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket.

“Am I going to get cursed if I touch it?” she said as she looked at it.

“Merlin forbid, do you really think that low of me?” he said, but he didn’t look all that offended. He had to admit that it was rather weird how friendly he was considering that they had barely talked in their years in the school.

Reluctantly, she took it, when she realized that what she was holding was in fact, a poem. “Laurence, is this a love poem?” she said with a scoff.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest “It’s romantic.” he responded.

“It’s odd” she answered, clearly amused at his attempts to woo her friend.

“Arabella, I know that because nobody likes you, you might think that romance is dead, but it isn’t. I bet Morris will appreciate it.” he said smugly.

She simply shook her head in disbelief and turned towards the door, muttering the password and holding the door open for him.

They didn’t talk more once they reached the common room, both of them immediately heading towards the stairs that lead to their bedrooms.

Opening the door, she saw both of her roommates already there. “Veronica, I’ve got a little something for you.” she simply greeted as she passed the letter onto her “What is it?” the girl said as she took it from her.

Adelaine then raised from her bed to sit next to Veronica, peering over her shoulder to try and see what the parchment contained

“A love letter from Lestrange, apparently.” she said, earning her a groan from her friend, while Adelaine left out a quiet laugh

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is on his knee a week from now.” the girl said, making it Arabella’s turn to laugh now.

\---

They all went to sleep fairly quickly after that, tired after the long trip. Just as she was drifting to sleep though, she felt sensation pulsing through her body, pulling her in a trance.

Words she didn’t quite comprehend filled her mind, until a picture started to form.

The castle, destroyed, was filled with people.

Groups of teenagers, in odd clothing, dirt covering their faces.

To the other side, figures dressed completely in dark clothing. Following a leader.

In the centre of the scene was a figure covered in dark robes, with abnormally long fingers and slits where the nose should be. His eyes lacked any trace of humanity, as they were a bright crimson red.

His wand was pointed at one of the boys, who mirrored his actions.

Words repeated over and over in her head, almost like a chant.

“Born at the death of the year and the end of the seventh month.” the scene vanished then, making Arabella shoot up from her bed, then.

Opening her eyes, she raised her hands to her temples, trying to calm down her headache. Her head felt light, the world spinning slowly around her. Laying down then, she managed to fall asleep.

The next morning, most of the headache seemed to have faded, but when Veronica and Adelaine were almost dragging her to the hall she wished she’d stayed in bed instead. Walking up to the table, she found a place between the two girls by the end of the table.

The room was still fairly empty, as breakfast had just started, so they didn’t have to fight for the pieces of toast and fruit when they first appeared before them.

Their peace was cut short, though, when laughter filled the room in the shape of a group of Slytherin seventh years. Avery, Victor and Abraxas sat in front of them, William taking a seat by Adelaine and intervening his fingers with hers and Laurence next to Veronica.

“Good morning, darling.” The boy greeted her friend.

“Good morning, Laurence.” was all she said in return, making the boys laugh at Lestrange’s love-struck expression.

A while later, after small bits of awkward conversation surrounding their holidays and their opinions on the classes they were taking that year, Arabella found herself drifting from their conversation, thinking back of a conversation she had with her father.

“Arabella, you know this year you will finally be of age. It’s appropriate that you start looking for a husband.”

She froze at his words.

She had known that she was expected to marry, of course, but it still felt all too rushed.

“Truth is, I’ve already started looking at suitable candidates, that will bring even more glory to the Selwyn name.” her father said with a glim of pride in his eyes.

“Have you?” she said, growing more worried by the second.

“Well, of course. You didn’t show any signs of getting close to any suitable boys yourself, so naturally I had to step in. Come on, take a seat.” her father urged, as he took a seat of his own.

“Yes, father.” she muttered, sitting in the leather armchair in front of him.

“Let’s see… there’s the boy from the Black line. It’s a very wealthy and powerful bloodline, but I believe him to be infatuated with Walburga.” the man said, talking more to himself than to his daughter.

Her shoulders slump down in relief, as she had never liked Orion. She understood the importance of bloodlines, but that boy took it to the extreme, saying things about muggle-borns and half-bloods that made her blood boil.

“Then there’s Victor and Abraxas, of course. You already get along with them, so it would make things easier.”

“Please, father, don’t make me marry either of them. They both come from great lineages, of course, and I understand the benefits it would bring, but I truly see them like brothers.” she said.

Normally, her father wouldn’t have allowed an interruption when he was speaking, or even allowed that she talked back to him, but he didn’t say anything, staying deep in thought for a few seconds.

“It’s truly a shame that you feel that way, but I’ll respect your desires, there’s other candidates either way.”

“Thank you, father.” she said.

“That leaves us with Alexander Kaiser. Truly marvellous, that boy. One of the wealthiest families in Germany. You’d have to learn German though, but I expect someone with your intellect shall have no problem with learning a language.”

“May I ask a question, father?”

“Well, it depends on the question, dear.”

“When do you expect me to marry?” she asked, her voice wary.

“Well, preferably when you are right out of Hogwarts. Although, if we were presented with a better candidate then it could be delayed, naturally. There are girls your age already engaged, Arabella, I have been kind enough to allow you to finish your education.”

“I know, father.”

“Good. You may go now, then.”

She raised from her seat then, keeping control of her composure, yet as soon as she was out of the door she felt the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

She headed straight to the art studio. Crossing the hallways rapidly, her vision was becoming blurrier by the second, but only when she entered the room and closed the door behind her, she let herself cry.

She sat on the piano’s bench, her back to the instrument.

Covering her face with her hands, the only things that could be heard were her sobs echoing in the room.

The idea of her father arranging a marriage for her repulsed her. She didn’t even know if she wanted to marry or not, but even if she did, she wanted to be the one to choose who she married.

Tradition was important, she knew that much, and she understood that her name came with some responsibilities and requirements, of course, but her hatred for the idea was bigger than her understanding of both things.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have opposed to marrying Victor or Abraxas.

She had thought she loved Victor in the past, not that her father knew, seeing that if he would have they would have been engaged already, but even if that hadn’t worked out, at least she could stand them.

Deep down though, she knew that she would still be unhappy there, because she didn’t necessarily care about who his father would make her marry but instead, that he was making her marry at all.

That’s how Phaerille found her, the elf looking at her with concern filling her eyes.

“Phaerille doesn’t mean to interrupt Miss, but she wonders if there is anything she could do to prevent Miss from being unhappy” the female elf said.

It was only after hearing her voice that she realized the presence of the elf in the room.

Wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, she responded “Would you take a seat with me, please?”

Phaerille pointed then to the space in the bench next to her “There, next to Missus? Oh, she is so very kind, Phaerille is immensely grateful.” she said as she approached the seat carefully, almost waiting for Arabella to tell her not to.

When she didn’t say anything though, Phaerille finally took a seat, turning her head to look at the teenage girl.

“Is Missus upset?”

The girl nodded.

“Phaerille knows the perfect thing that will help Miss.” the elf said as she conjured a tissue to appear, handing it to the ginger girl.

The elf then raised from her seat, darting in the direction of the door.

“Phaerille, where are you going?” she said, her brows rising slightly in curiosity.

“Phaerille is going to prepare a warm bath for Missus, naturally. She knows Missus likes them a lot.” she responded, before finally leaving the room.

She was brought back to reality after that, as a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Morning, ladies and gentleman.” Tom greeted them as he took a seat in the large table.

“Morning, Riddle.” she responded

“Slept well?” he asked, even if he didn’t care about the answer.

“Not that good, actually.”

“Yeah, I was going to say you looked like shit today.” Victor joked, earning him a kick from her from under the table

“Mate, you look like shit every day.” Avery said, making the whole group erupt into laughter.

\---

As October finally settled in and the cold weather found itself home in the long hallways of the castle, she found herself walking through the corridors with Victor and Abraxas. The dark haired boy had his arm around her shoulders and was currently trying to lure them into sneaking into Hogsmade that night, claiming that he hadn’t drunk a butterbeer in what seemed like forever. “But Arabella, we can just use a disillusionment chart and we won’t even get caught”

“Victor, for the hundredth time, I have a meeting tonight, and even if I didn’t, it’s still a no.” he then turned his attention onto Malfoy “Abraxas, you won’t let me down too, will you?”

Abraxas just shook his head, apparently amused “sorry Rosier, I have plans this evening.” Rosier faked an offended expression “What could be more exciting than getting butterbeers?”

A devilish smirk appeared on Abraxas face “A date with Scarlett Fletcher in the Astronomy tower.”

After hearing that, Rosier seemed to forget about his butterbeer, a smirk mirroring Abraxas’ being plastered on his face, as he went to pat him in the back, seemingly proud.

“At what time?” Rosier asked. As for their female companion, she was merely watching the scene unfold, laughing from time to time at Victor’s despair. “Eight in the evening, I think.”

“See?, it’s perfect! After you leave if it goes well, we go celebrating, and if it doesn’t, then it will be good for comforting you. It’s perfectly logical, really.” the boy explained, earning him a laugh from his two companions as they walked into the potions classroom.

“Why are you so eager? We will probably be going there in a few weeks at most.” their female friend asked “It’s the classes, I swear. We’ve only been here for a few weeks and I already have three assignments to do!” they then reached their seats.

Arabella sat with Abraxas while Victor sat in front of them, next to James Avery. Behind them, where the last year had sat Adelaine and Veronica, now sat Laurence and Tom, making the two girls sit in the row to their right.

Just as Slughorn walked in the classroom, she saw Victor trying to lure James into his plans, but this time they seemed to be slightly more successful, seeing how his pleading face had turned into a full smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Walking out of the girl’s tower and stepping into the common room, Arabella quickly noticed Tom, who had just stepped out of the boy’s tower and was heading towards the door.

Even if her steps were careful he still managed to hear her, as he stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at her. A charming smile tugged at his lips then, as he held his arm out to her. She took it, giving him a smile of her own before they started walking.

They both knew that he had never acted that way towards her before that year. He had never treated her poorly, but he definitely kept his distance, barely acknowledging her if she was with the friends they shared. But perhaps because of her own curiosity behind his actions, she didn’t comment on it.

The only noise that could be heard was the clicking of their feet against the stone, and even if it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, she was still glad when he spoke up.

“I heard Dumbledore wanted to see you, some weeks ago.” he said, watching her expression. It didn’t flinch. Instead, she turned to him, and even with the dim lighting of the hallways he could still see the small faint of humour in her eyes “I didn’t take you to be one for gossip, Riddle.”

He felt himself clenching his jaw. Truth was, he had worked hard on his charm and usually, people were taken by it. They took the bait and gave him what he asked for. It wasn’t what happened with Arabella. She didn’t seem to buy it and there was only another person who hadn’t fallen for it.

Dumbledore.

Because of it, when Lestrange had informed him that he had seen her coming out of his classroom, and she had later on presented herself as more amicable, his suspicions grew greatly. But of course, he couldn’t be too sure.

Hiding his annoyance, he simply responded “Wouldn’t call it gossip, Selwyn, just mere curiosity. It’s a well-known fact that Dumbledore isn’t especially keen on Slytherins.”

“Well, if you must know, he was asking me why I had decided to drop his class. Regardless, it's hardly recent news” she said, before pausing for a moment “You don’t like him very much, do you?”

“Why do you think that?” he questioned, never taking his eyes off her.

“Just a hunch.” she simply retorted, not backing away from the eye contact. Then, he simply answered imitating her previous comment “I didn’t take you one for gossip, Selwyn.”

She let out a small laugh, almost inaudible and barely there, but a laugh nonetheless, and after a few seconds, she answered “what was it that you said?” she got quiet for an instant before she continued “Wouldn’t call it gossip, Riddle, just mere curiosity.” She replied with a smirk, which he mirrored.

They then arrived at the room. He unlinked his arm from hers as he went to open the door, holding it out for her.

Floor to ceiling windows illuminated the room. A big table stood in the middle of it, while they had their own desks near the wall.

Walking towards them, the conversation Arabella had assumed had ended was brought up again by Tom, as he moves some parchment into a nearby shelf.

“You were right.”

She then stopped what she was doing to look at him.

“Pardon me?” she replied as she leaned back on the desk, putting one ankle over the other.

He remained where he was, but turned around slightly to look at her.

“You were right. I do not like him.” was the only thing he replied.

She wasn’t able to gather any more information though, as the door suddenly opened as prefects started walking in.

He would call a meeting with his knights that same night, as they needed to look into recruiting and finding the founder’s objects. He was also concerned about the situation with Grindelwald, of course.

As she spoke with the prefects, he considered all the different possibilities. He didn’t know her stance on blood purity and he didn’t have any female as a knight but perhaps if he played his cards right, he could turn her into one. She was intelligent, after all, they were constantly competing for the top grade in every class, and she had enough power and connections that he would surely find useful.

\---

A few days later, she found herself in the library, sitting in the corner furthest away from the rest of the students.

She had recently remembered parts of a prophecy she had created no longer than a year ago, the word “horcrux” ringing in her head through the entirety of the day and the previous night.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the Head Boy approaching her direction, propping her to pilling the books in her bag and getting up from the table, intending to head towards the door. Her plan didn’t quite work, though, as he had been faster than her and had a hand gripping her by the elbow.

“What’s that book that you are saving?” she felt him murmur to her right, his breath fanning against her cheek. His tone was soft, yet his words were demanding.

“Oh, nothing really. Just homework stuff.” she said all too quickly for someone who was being honest.

“Lying to me, Selwyn?” he said as he turned her around, forcing her to make eye contact with him. His gaze was severe.

“No, of course not.” she responded, but he didn’t seem to buy it. Still not letting go of her arm, he dragged her out of the library.

He had managed to see the cover of the book, even with her weak attempts at hiding it. He didn’t know too much about her, but he surely didn’t expect her to be reading a book stolen from the restricted section of the Library.

The idea of getting her in trouble was appealing, really, but it would mean having points deducted out of his own house, which wasn’t a smart choice. Especially not when he wanted to use her to his advantage.

Finally in the hallways he saw an empty classroom right across, where he dragged her with him. He closed the door after them. Arabella was now close to the wall furthest away from him. He simply walked towards her. Stern, quiet, calculating.

“I do not appreciate people being dishonest.” he said once he got close to her. He was towering over her, arm length away. She wasn’t lowering her head and her body posture didn’t show fear, but her avoidance of eye contact didn’t go unnoticed by him.

He took her leather bag from her hands. She didn’t say anything, but it was still obvious that his rather aggressive gesture had startled her. He easily saw what he was looking for. It was a book he was fairly familiar with, which made him wonder even more why Arabella would have it. The perfect daughter for the equally perfect father. But if he found out what she wanted to do with such kinds of books, perhaps he would have something to use against her.

He picked it up before letting the bag fall to the ground. Holding it out in his hand, he looked at her again.

“I do not recall Secrets of the darkest arts being part of the school’s curriculum.” he sternly said. He then placed the book on the floor, by her discarded bag.

He walked even closer, and it felt as if she was glued to the floor. Under his gaze it was as if she couldn’t move, even if she had wanted to. She was pushed against the wall, then. He held her by the chin with one hand while gripping her wrists above her head with the other, even though she wasn’t planning on running away.

He then forced her to make eye contact with him as he moved her face by the chin. It was only then, under their close proximity, that he noticed how her eyes weren’t blue, as he had previously thought, but were in fact grey, with a small ring of gold covering hovering over her pupils.

“Why are you reading this, Arabella?” Her gaze didn’t move away from his.

She gave no answer. He let go of her chin then, taking hold of her throat instead.

“I expect to be given an answer when I ask you a question.” he said.

He got even closer, their bodies almost pressed together. His mouth was inches away from her cheek and she could feel him breathing against him.

“I was curious, that’s all.” is all she managed to say. It didn’t seem to satisfy him, though.

Her eyes looked at everything but him. “You took this from the Restricted Section. Surely you would know about the dark contents inside it. You weren’t just curious, you were looking for something. I am not stupid, Arabella, and that you thought I’d believe any of your lies is in all honestly, deeply amusing.”

“Arabella, it isn’t really a wise decision to make this harder for yourself. What were you looking for?”. His hand gripped her neck harder.

After a few seconds, she spoke under her breath. “Horcruxes.”

It was only because of their proximity that he managed to hear her. She then looked into his eyes, the same flicker of red she had seen before. It was only then that he let her go, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

“What do you know about them?” he asked her. She was looking at anywhere but him. He raised her chin with his right index. It was a light contact, a deep contrast from how he had been grabbing her seconds ago. She then met his eyes, as she finally spoke.

“They are objects in which wizards hide parts of their soul. One must commit murder to split their soul, to then place it onto the object.” A twisted smirk tugged at his features. His usual aura grew even darker. It was magnetic, almost, she was sure she could almost physically feel it.

“Have you ever thought about making one, Arabella?” he knew she hadn’t, but her eyes spoke in a way she wouldn’t, and he knew she feared him.

He enjoyed it. The power he had over her, without even harming her. Not like he harmed his followers, at least. She saw him for what she was, powerful, dangerous, and she didn’t have that patronizing look in her gaze that she often used when she was with him. It was amusing.

“No. Have you?” they both knew the answer to that question, so it wasn’t a surprise when he answered “Yes.”

Just after those three words, he let go of her and darted out of the room. It was only then when she realized how sore her neck felt.

\---

They had stolen small glances towards each other. Whether it was when one of them stepped into the common room, when they ate in the Great Hall or across the library, but it took a week until they spoke again.

It was in Defence against the Dark Arts. Professor Merrythought had told them that they would be duelling each other.

It had been based around their grades, to make the pairings equal, so of course both Arabella and Tom knew that they would be duelling each other even before the professor said it.

When she bowed in front of him, her movements were graceful, precise and calculated. Not that he would expect otherwise.

He was the one to throw the first spell. Freezing cold air came flying from his wand, freezing everything it came in contact with. She quickly deflected it though, before muttering “locomotor wibbly”.

Just as she had, he deflected it. It was clear that the way they were duelling was barely child play for them.

He then tried using petrificus-totalus, but she cast a shield just as he flicked his wand. He noticed how her graceful movements now had a much more aggressive demeanour to them.

Light flew from their wands, fire, water, fog filled the classroom as they duelled, their audience of classmates already forgotten. Suddenly, the desk she was hiding behind exploded.

She was sent a few feet back, yet her wand was still in hand. The expression on her face was now much more deadly. They didn’t seem to notice the gasps coming from their classmates.

The wood pieces transformed into daggers and flew towards him. One of them ripped his oxford, but he gave it no thought as all his focus was on his target. He made a snake appear in front of her, and commanded it to attack her.

She froze it before sending it to crash against the wall behind him. She didn’t give him any time to rest, as he was thrown to the floor by a spell.

He landed on his knees, now closer to her, yet he was still gripping his wand.

“Aquamenti” he silently sent her way. It hit her before she could even think about moving. The force of it made her hit the wall behind her.

But even then, soaked and with a visible expression of pain written on her face, the fire in her eyes didn’t subside.

He then glued her legs to the ground, as she sent a curse towards him.

He responded with one of his own, and the light from their wands met in the middle.

Different colours fought each other.

The energy was heavily charged, as they both focused on each other while their classmates watched in awe. It had never taken either of them that long to disarm their opponent.

The trance was broken when their professor flicked her wand, cutting the magic flowing between them. They both had their eyes fixated on each other.

“Enough! You are supposed to disarm each other, not destroy the classroom! You’ve landed yourselves in a detention! I will speak to your head of House. Now, class is dismissed.”

As most of the students left, she eyed the classroom. She had been too focused on winning before, to realize the state of the room.

Water covered the floor, stone was dented from where spells had landed and some of it was pitch black from when she had sent an Inferno his way.

Some tables and chairs had been destroyed, as well, and marks from the explosions could be seen on the floors.

She then left the classroom, where she was met with her roommates.

“Are you okay? Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing?” Veronica said immediately after she joined them, looking for any sort of injury she could find.

“I think she was handling herself just fine. It was impressive, I have to say.” Adelaine responded as she put her arm around the redhead’s shoulders. She then guided them to their room.

“Honestly, I don’t know what Merrythought was thinking when she paired you with each other. It was bound to end up horribly. Are you sure you don’t want to visit the infirmary? I know you can handle yourself, I mean, after what we just saw I got no doubt of it but you seemed to hit your head pretty bad against the wall.” Veronica rambled.

“Don’t worry, Vero. I’m alright. I’m a little pissed that Merrythought cut in, I had a fair chance at winning, I think.” Arabella told them.

“Yeah, and a fair chance at dying, too. It’s Riddle we are talking about.” Adelaine responded, and even if she was talking in a joking manner, the three girls knew that Riddle was perfectly capable of a lot more than they could even begin to think about.

They finally reached the common room. Adelaine then dropped her arm from her friend’s shoulders as she walked towards her boyfriend William.

They greeted each other with a kiss and Veronica, who was still at Arabella’s side, turned to look at her. “Must they rub it in?” her nose was furrowed in disgust.

Adelaine then pulled away laughing, and Laurence took it upon himself to walk towards her, placing a strand of her behind her ear.

“We could rub it in their faces too if you wanted to, Morris.” he said teasingly.

Her cheeks immediately turned red.

“You are completely insufferable!” she said as she darted out of the common room and into their shared bedroom, with a laughing Arabella following suit.


	4. Chapter 4

One day during breakfast, letters were delivered to the young Slytherins. They all had a common denominator, and it was how they were sent from the Rosier Manor.

Inside them, a letter told them that they had been invited to staying with them during Christmas Holidays, as well as to the Ball being held during New Year’s Eve.

Arabella wasn’t surprised, she had attended the Ball every year since she was six, but her calm demeanour wasn’t shared by everyone, as Avery, Veronica and Adelaine had the same surprised expression plastered on their faces.

The day they received their invitations to the Ball was also the day Tom and Arabella would serve detention together.

Professor Merrythought had talked to Slughorn but, naturally, he had been more pleased with having two powerful students in his house rather than havoc they had caused.

Arabella then walked down into the common room. Laurence seemed to be helping Veronica and Abraxas was sitting down with James, laughing at something he had said.

These past months the lines between the different groups had been blurring and scenes like these that would have seemed completely foreign to her a few months ago, were the usual.

Tom was leaning against the wall, right by the door. He had his hands in his pockets and was standing with one ankle crossing in front of the other. He had a bored expression. His eyes turned to her as she approached him.

She had to admit, Tom was undoubtedly handsome. His dark hair was never out of place. He had dark, piercing eyes, a sharp jawline and broad shoulders. It was truly a shame that such good looks had to be wasted on a foul personality.

\---

They walked to the classroom where they would be serving detention in silence, only distant conversations and the sound of their footsteps could be heard.

She wasn’t exactly keen on spending time with him after what happened the last time they did, but at least Slughorn would be there to supervise them, which made having to clean cauldrons by hand only slightly better.

She thought it might have been a great time to get her thoughts and ideas together, as she still didn’t understand Tom’s reaction from when they were in the Library.

Sure, she had stolen a book from the Restricted section and it could potentially have landed her into trouble, but he hadn’t reported her, not yet at least, the book was still under her possession and he hadn’t talked to her since then.

But, of course, not everything would be the way Arabella would have hoped for as once they got to the classroom, Slughorn got up from his seat once he told them what to do and what they would need.

“I happen to have a few things to do, so I will be leaving you two alone. I hope that’s not a problem.” he said as he smiled at them, slipping through the door before any of the two could object.

They worked in silence for a while, until Tom’s voice cut through the silence.

“Have you thought about who you are going to the Ball with? I presume Malfoy would be rather inclined to accompany you.”

He didn’t turn to look at her as he continued scrubbing the cauldron. He had taken his robe off, leaving him with the vest and the oxford shirt that had the sleeves rolled up.

She didn’t answer him for a few seconds, almost wondering if she had heard him right. She then turned to look at him.

“I beg your pardon?” she ended up asking.

It was only then that he turned to look at her. He noticed how she was dressed in a similar manner, as she had also taken her robes off and rolled up the sleeves to her shirt.

A few strands had escaped the bun that rested on top of her head, but she wasn’t bothering to fix it.

He felt an instinct to raise his hand and tuck the strands behind her ear, He didn’t even know why he wanted to, assuming it was merely because he had never seen her with hair that wasn’t ever near perfect.

“I think you heard me perfectly fine the first time, Selwyn.” She rolled her eyes at him, but she didn’t look entirely annoyed.

“I do not know who I will be attending with, but with Abraxas surely not.” she noticed how a small smirk was tugging at the boy’s lips.

“Rosier, then?” he didn’t know why he was asking, because truth was, he didn’t really care, but the words had left his mouth already and he couldn’t take them back.

“No. I’ll most likely go alone, if I’m honest. Why do you care, either way?” she said as her eyebrows slightly raised, awaiting for an answer.

“I don’t.” he honestly answered

“If you say so…” she said then, her tone having a slightly humorous tone that made him roll his eyes at her.

They got back to work then, and for a long while they worked in silence, until it was broken by Arabella.

“Tom?” she called then.

“Yes?” he simply answered, diverting his attention from her gaze into the cauldron.

“Are we not going to talk about what happened in the empty classroom or when we were duelling?”

He now regretted having spoken to her.

“Is it necessary?” he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I suppose not.” she ended up responding.

“May I ask you a question though?” She decided to test her luck.

“No, you may not,” he said. He smirked then, before continuing to speak “But seeing how irritating you are something tells me that you are planning on asking regardless.”

A small smile tugged at her lips. Even if she wasn’t looking at him, focusing her attention on their task, he didn’t miss it.

He then heard how she placed the cauldron onto the table and seconds after, her burning gaze was on him again.

“You told me you had thought about making a horcrux.” she said tentatively, as she didn’t know how he would react.

He nodded and she took it as a sign to continue. “So, have you?”

She asked because of her own curiosity, trying to put the pieces together that she had gathered with the little information she had on the prophecies.

Nothing had told her that the prophecy she had seen about horcruxes was about Tom specifically, yet something in her was convinced that it was indeed about him. Studying the future and analysing prophecies was hard work, of course, as there were many little situations that could alter the future into something different and therefore, prophecies should always be taken with a grain of salt and a great amount of caution.

Regardless of that though, she felt entranced with Tom, wanting to know every single thought that crossed his head, if that were to be possible, so she still tried to learn, to understand.

He had a much different perception of her actions, which was only normal as he only had small pieces of information to work around, and the idea that currently filled his head was that Dumbledore and Arabella had been talking and she now had a new found curiosity regarding him.

It was a story that wrote itself. And if she had been stupid enough to believe that he wouldn’t notice, Tom had probably overestimated her intelligence. Still, he wouldn’t let her know that he knew of her plan. Perhaps in the future there would be a moment where it came much more useful.

He looked at her once more. Her eyes didn’t have the look of fear they had possessed when they were together in the classroom and he wondered if they would go back to that when she heard his answer.

“Are you asking me if I have ever made a horcrux?” she nodded at his words.

She waited for an answer, but only a laugh came. It wasn’t honest, really, as it was entirely sarcastic and patronizing. He was mocking her idiocy.

Still, he didn’t miss how her eyes were slightly dubitative. She was measuring her words around him, and it burnt him.

He desperately wanted to take a dip in her thoughts, but he knew that she wouldn’t forgive that act of invasion. So he refrained himself from doing so, at least for the time being.

“Have you read then about the consequences of doing one?” his brows furrowed at her words.

“You ask too many questions, Selwyn.” he ended up saying, a sharp edge to his tone, an unspoken warning for her to keep quiet.

A warning that she ignored, of course. “Perhaps you’re right, but you haven’t answered my question.” her gaze was defiant.

He then moved from his position, walking towards her. He towered over her, standing almost a feet taller.

Her eyes never moved away from his.

“I don’t owe you any information.” he told her.

“No, you don’t.” she responded.

They stayed in silence for a few seconds then, until she continued speaking.

“I think immortality is more a curse than it is a blessing.”

She was outright exasperating, never knowing when to stop speaking, or downright ignoring the cues. His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed.

“What is it that you think is just, then? What’s the value of life if it is condoned to ending? Does anything we do matter if everything is going to crumble in the end? How does that make us any different from muggles, if we will all end the same way?”

“And what’s the alternative, Tom? To watch everything you’ve ever loved, die? Not only will you lose your friends, your family… eventually culture will evolve, literature will be forgotten, art will disappear, civilizations will be torn down, nobody will remember the names we learn about today, and you’ll end up being the shell of a man, constructed of parts that no longer exist. To live through that? It’s worse than the cruellest of deaths.”

“Finally you said it, love. I was wondering when it would come up.” he mocked her

“What about it?”

“Love is a weakness, Selwyn, a mere justification of idiocy. It weakens people, gets them killed.” he spat the words like they were venom.

In the dim lighting of the room, his eyes were pits of darkness. There was no doubt why people admired him, he was magnetic, entrancing, he seemed to have a pull towards everyone and blind them to a side of him quite well hidden.

A side of him where his eyes were glowing red instead of black, where his jaw was permanently clenched and he didn’t waste time pretending to care for others.

Suddenly, the door creaked and the light from the corridor invaded the room.

They then seemed to realize the short distance between them, as they moved away from each other until they were two feet apart.

Slughorn appeared into view by the door. “Oh, Tom, Arabella, you two can leave now. I’ll put the cauldrons back.” They stood there for a few instants, before rapidly heading towards the door in case the man changed his mind.

“I almost forgot!” his voice forced them to turn around. “Will I see you for dinner in my office next week? Rest assured, the elves are preparing a fantastic feast!” a broad smile tugged at his lips.

Tom nodded his head. He then spoke up “Of course, professor. I’m looking forward to it.” the professor then turned to Arabella, who had been silent up to that moment. “I would be delighted to attend.” she said as she flashed him a smile.

“That’s lovely. Off you go, then.” the professor concluded.

\---

The next week and just how they had promised, Arabella and her fellow Slytherin friends gathered for dinner with Slughorn.

Arabella was currently in the bathroom, while Veronica and Adelaine waited for her in their shared bedroom, as she was always the one who took the longest to get ready.

Tapping the lipstick on one last time, she stepped back, looking at her reflection.

While she had kept the eye makeup minimal, she had painted her lips a deep shade of red.

She wore a simple silver necklace, a black spaghetti strap dress that stopped just over her knees.

It had been made by her seamstress, so it hugged every one of her curves beautifully. As for the shoes, they were simple black heels.

When she stepped out of the room, she took notice of her friends. They had dressed up as well, not enough to where it would be overly formal, yet wearing clothes they usually wouldn’t.

Adelaine wore a red dress that fit her like a glove with black heels and a golden necklace, while Veronica wore a dark green skin tight dress. She wasn’t wearing a necklace, like her friends were, going for golden and emerald cluster earrings.

“Shall we?” Adelaine said as she guided the way out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Once they exited the tower, having been careful enough not to trip down the stairs due to their heels, they saw that most of the boys were already there, waiting for them.

Arabella’s eyes fixated on Tom’s. He was standing against the leather couches, his hands in the pockets of his suits as he watched her descend.

A small smile tugged at her lips. She knew she looked good, but she now had the confirmation that he thought so too, as his eyes only left her figure when he led the way to Slughorn’s office.

As they finally arrived, just a minute before what the invitation said, they noticed that the only other attendants apart from their group were two Ravenclaws, a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, who even if they tried their best to hide it, didn’t look all too pleased with the sheer amount of Slytherins attending, even if it was obvious that Slughorn had a clear inclination for them. He was their head of house, after all.

“Oh, you all look fantastic, please come in.” the professor greeted them, guiding them into the room.

They were left to speak for a while, as Slughorn made his way around the students, before the feast started.

She walked towards Abraxas and Victor, who were gesturing for her to sit next to the blonde boy, but she wasn’t quite able to do so, as Slughorn cut her short.

“Oh, Arabella dear, come sit here, if you wouldn’t mind.” he said, as she plastered a fake smile on her face.

“Of course, professor.” It was a chair right between the professor himself and Tom, which neither she nor him seemed too pleased about.

She shot her male friends a look, who seemed more humoured that she would have to spend the entirety of the evening next to the professor and therefor a subject to his incessant questions than to the fact that she wouldn’t be sitting beside them, a seat now occupied by the Hufflepuff student.

Food appeared almost instantly before them, the students filling their plates with food while the professor helped himself to a glass of firewhisky, before mirroring their actions.

She then noticed how after the professor had turned to look at her, so after cleaning her mouth with the napkin, she turned to him as well.

“Arabella, how’s your father doing?”

She hadn’t actually spoken to him ever since the classes started, but she didn’t need to in order to answer the professor’s question, as she always gave him the same answer. Not that he noticed, though.

“He’s doing well, thank you for asking. Lots of work at the Ministry constantly, but he says he finds his work to be extremely rewarding.” she said, smiling at the man, but Tom noticed it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Will you be following his steps?” the professor asked before taking another sip from his alcoholic drink.

“I’m not too sure. It'd be an honour to work as minister of magic, of course, but I am also really interested in the department of International Magical Cooperation, the Department of Mysteries or perhaps becoming Chief Warlock at Wizengamot. I’m not too sure.”

“Very ambitious, indeed, although I’m convinced you won’t have any problems getting into any of them. You’re quite the intelligent girl, Arabella.”

“Well, thank you professor.”

Just as she was answering though, she saw the Gryffindor student whispering to one of the Ravenclaws

“It’s not like she will have to put any work with her father as the Minister. They say he’s been paying the professors to give her outstanding in every class. It’s not surprising though, that family’s been buying their way into everything for centuries.”

She felt the stare of some of her friends on her, trying to guess how she would react and if she had heard them.

It was clear the two hadn’t expected her to hear though, as their eyes widened when they heard her talk again with her eyes focused on them.

“Pardon me?” she said in an angelic tone, not letting her anger show

“What?”

“I was convinced I heard you say something. Would you mind repeating yourself?” she said sweetly

“Oh, it was nothing important. I was just telling her… ah… how good this bread is.” the Gryffindor answered

“Oh, is it? I haven’t tried it yet. If you don’t mind me asking, do you honestly believe I’m daft?”

The professor, who hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation until then, choked on his drink.

“Pardon me?”

“It’s a yes or no question, it really isn’t that complicated.”

“No, I do not think that you are daft.” the Gryffindor answered, his brows furrowed down in confusion

“Then do me a favour, please, and if you are going to badmouth me or my family, at least do so when I’m not here to listen.” she said, the smile permanently placed on her face.

The Gryffindor’s face reddened, but he didn’t say anything more.

“Well… eh… Tom, now that we are on the topic of careers.” the professor said, trying to avoid the awkwardness “What do you want to do when you graduate? Do you also intend to pursue a job in the ministry like Arabella?”

Tom had a smile of his own plastered on his face “No. I’d like to become a professor, actually.”

Arabella felt her own eyebrows rise with surprise

“Are you serious?” she said, looking at him, the left corner of her mouth tugging upwards.

“Yes. Something the matter, Selwyn?” he said, slightly annoyed with the girl.

“Oh, nothing. I just can’t imagine you around eleven year olds doing something apart from hexing them into oblivion.” the girl joked as she took a sip from her goblet, never breaking eye contact with him.

He knew that some of his knights were watching the scene intently, surprised that she allowed herself to question their lord and even more so, that he allowed her to talk back to him.

He simply rolled his eyes at her, which only prompted her to smile wider.

“I must say Tom, I’m quite surprised that you do not wish to work in the Ministry. Someone with a talent like yours surely should consider working there.” the professor said as he looked at his golden student.

“With all due respect, I find that the Ministry is often not entirely honest with its population, so I find it much more useful to teach the kids to defend themselves, so if anything were to happen, they wouldn’t have to wait for the Ministry to act first.” he explained calmly.

He could hear Arabella scoff as the words left his mouth and he could imagine how she was rolling her eyes at him. The thought humoured him.

The professor then continued to ask the rest of the students about what they planned to do in the future, but Arabella drowned them out as she turned to Tom and whispered “that’s bullshit.”

His eyebrows rose, surprised at her language.

“Language, Selwyn.” he teased. This time he didn’t have to imagine her rolling her eyes.

“You know I’m right.” she said

“About what, exactly?” he said, in the same low tone as her

“About what you said about children. You couldn’t care less about them.”

“I didn’t know you could read my thoughts to know what I think.”

“I don’t need to be able to read your thoughts to call you out on your bullshit.”

“If I were you, I’d address me with some respect.”

After hearing her words, she left out an incredulous laugh.

“Who do you think you are?” she whispered, mocking him.

His jaw clenched, and she noticed how tense his posture was.

“Meet me in the Astronomy Tower at midnight.” was the last thing he said, as he focused once again in the conversation.

A while later, at a quarter to eleven, he excused himself and left the room.

They were having dessert at the time, and shortly enough after, it was time for them to leave.

At a quarter to twelve, Abraxas and Arabella were walking back to the common room. The rest of the group was following them, as well, but they were a few steps ahead.

He was leading the way, but as they reached a door in one of the empty corridors, she stopped in her tracks, suddenly remembering that Tom wanted to meet her.

She knew that the best option would be to simply avoid going, but as she wasn’t always as prudent as perhaps she should, she turned to Abraxas.

“You guys get going, I need to do something first. I’ll see you all in the common room.”

Abraxas raised an eyebrow at her, curious about her decision. He didn’t ask any details, though, as he merely answered “Alright then, I’ll see you later.”

She opened the door again, and slipped through quickly.

The stairs leading to the tower were completely pitch black and not a single sound could be heard, apart from her own heart beating, which, for reasons Arabella quite couldn’t comprehend, seemed to go a lot faster than usual.

Casting a quick lumos, she started walking. Once she got to the top, she thought that perhaps Tom had stood her up, not seeing him after a first glance.

Just as she was ready to leave though, she heard the unmistakable sound of the Head Boy’s footsteps, as he emerged from the shadows where the light of her wand couldn’t reach.

“You’re here early.” he said.

“I don’t like being late.” she answered, meeting his gaze.

“I’m tired of your insolence, Selwyn.”

“Truly a shame.” she muttered under her breath, yet loud enough for him to hear.

He took hold of her wrist then, pulling her closer. She noticed how his mouth opened to speak, but as his skin came in contact with hers, the world around them blurred away as visions started filling her mind.

“Cup, locket, diadem, diary, Nagini, ring, boy” the words repeated in her head like a chant, until after many repetitions the letters seemed to blur together until it was impossible to tell the words apart.

She saw three kids her age in the forest, and Godric’s sword. “Voldemort’s horcruxes.” she heard the girl said. The scene changed. One of them in a darkly lit room “Lord Voldemort is my past, present and future” called the boy who was currently in front of her.

And then, everything was pitch black.

She woke up in the infirmary.

It was still night time and the room was dimly lit by just a few candles scattered around. She quickly took notice of Madam Pomfrey, her voice merely a whisper, yet loud enough for her to hear.

“I said no visitors! You will be able to see her tomorrow, but rest is crucial for her at the moment.”

“But-“ she heard Abraxas say

“I do not want to hear it. Now, out before I begin assigning detentions.”

“Let’s go boys.” Tom’s voice called.

As she heard footsteps becoming weaker, she assumed whoever was at the door must have resigned.

Even with all the confusion from the events leading up to where she was now, a small smile could be seen forming as she thought about how at least one of her friends had been worried about her and wanting to see her, even if it meant getting into trouble for being out after curfew.

She was pulled away from her thoughts then, as the healer came closer to her.

“Oh, I see you’ve woken up already. How are you feeling dear?” the woman said without looking at her, as she was currently digging through a cabinet.

“My head is killing me.” she groaned

“Here, take this.” the woman said as she came back to her bed with a small bottle.

“What is it?” the girl inquired, as her brows furrowed in suspicion.

“It will help you sleep. Tomorrow when you wake up we can talk in my office, dear.” she said, as she handed Arabella the small bottle.

As she brought it to her lips, she noticed the faint smell of lavender coming from the potion.

‘At least it isn’t disgusting’ she thought, as she had drunk healing potions in the past that tasted anything but pleasant. That was the last thing she remembered before she woke up the next morning, with the curtains letting in the faintest bits of light.

She got up slowly, resting her head against the metal headboard. Turning her head slightly, she noticed how the night stand beside her that she swore had been empty the previous night, now had a glass vase with sunflowers and a small box of Bertit Bott’s every flavour beans.

Almost as if the healer was sensing how the redhead girl was looking at them, she spoke up “Those friends of you left you this morning. I’m surprised they didn’t wake you up, actually, with how little regard they seemed to have for silence.”

She sounded almost exasperated, and it brought a small smile to Arabella’s face.

The healer ran some tests on her, and invited her into her office afterwards.

“Just to be safe, I’ll be keeping you here for the day and we’ll see how you are doing by dinner time.” the woman said as she closed the door behind them.

They both took a seat then, as the healer continued speaking.

“You see Arabella, I understand you were having a prophecy when you passed out.” she said.

Arabella didn’t react to this, as Madam Pomfrey and Headmaster Dippet had been both informed of her abilities as well as her health problems, but a new doubt formed in her head.

“I assume Tom was the one to bring me here.” she suggested, as the healer nodded in her direction.

“Do you believe he knows?”

“It’s quite hard to tell what is going on in Tom’s mind, of course, but I believe he doesn’t. He was seemingly just worried about your state. After all, finding you passed out on the floor of the common room must have been quite the sight.”

“Okay” she simply said.

“Either way, prophecies are, from what I understand, quite tiring on most wizards and witches. They tend to drain one’s energies due to the effort that it takes to produce one, but because your health is already weakened, it leads to scenes like yesterdays. That’s why I can’t let you go just yet, dear. We don’t know too much about how or if it affects the curse in any way just yet. I owled your father before you woke up, by the way, I believe you should know.”

“Alright. I must say, I feel well already, I think I could go to class just fine.”

The older woman sent her a glare then. “The decision is final. I believe you push yourself for classes hard enough already, resting is important.” she concluded.

Pomfrey got up from her seat then, a movement shortly followed by Arabella.

She sat in her assigned bed then, and the house elves brought her breakfast shortly after.

Letting her imagination wander as she picked on her toast, she thought about the prophecies she had been having.


	6. Chapter 6

Having prophecies wasn't a recent thing, as she had been having them her whole life, but with recent years they seemed to clear up in a way, as she gained power and control in her ability. Before, they used to be blurry images and whispers where she could only understand so much, but as of lately, they focused a lot more on details, she was able to see images perfectly clear and the latest ones all focused on the same theme.

She thought about her grandmother then, from her dad’s side, who had the same ability she had. She would often reprimand her father if she considered that he went too hard on her, like when he started bringing a tutor home.

“Albert! The girl is seven, do you not think having her studying for six hours a day is more than enough, to make the tutor come during the summer months as well?”

“Mother, you know as well as I do that education is crucial for success.”

“I do understand that! But you fail to see that children need time to enjoy themselves as well. What did the mother say, does she agree with you?”

Her grandmother said as she pointed her head at a younger Arabella, who was currently sitting down reading in the armchair of her grandmother’s house, her hair in two braids while she wore a light yellow dress.

“Charlotte? She doesn’t, of course. She asks what I’m going to do when she finally is old enough to attend Hogwarts.”

“Well, and have you given that a thought?”

“The tutor will stay during the summer months as well, then.”

Her heart ached at the memory, as a quiet sigh escaped from her lips.

Oh, how much she missed her grandmother and her mother, both of whom she had lost to the Dark Lord that was currently taking over Europe, and that didn't look like stopping any time soon.

Him, who had set a fate for her before she was ever born, and who had cut down the days of the two women she had learnt to love most.

Her mother, who was always gentle and comforting, tucked her into bed every night, even when her age reached the double digits, and who taught her how to play the piano.

And he had taken it away from her. Grinderwald.

He had looked out for her grandmother, but when she hadn’t agreed to work for him, he played God with them.

But who was him to decide anybody’s fate? He made her blood boil.

It was only then that realization drew upon her, as she realized what she had been trying to supress.

Tom was a killer as much as Grinderwald was, yet he let herself talk to him and perhaps sometimes, even enjoy his company.

She was hypocritical, entirely and without justification, and it was only at that moment that she realized it.

Because she claimed to understand the intrinsic value of life, feeling pure hatred towards people like Grinderwald, who dared to play with it, yet she had known about Tom making horcruxes for some time, and therefore, the fact that he had committed murder at least once, but she had ignored it.

She had buried the information deep within her, almost not wanting to believe it, but it was unavoidable, and it made her sick to her stomach.

She had disliked some parts of him, like his arrogance and some darker parts of his personality, but she now felt a deep hatred for him.

Making prophecies was a complicated task, of course, and many things went into it that could very easily alter the future and on top of it all, she wasn’t a trained seer, but it seemed like Tom wouldn’t be that far off from Grindelwald and, from the sight of the prophecy she saw on the first night, he seemed a lot less humane.

She didn’t know who Lord Voldemort was, or what had he done, but if anything she’d seen had been true, he was quite powerful, and he would have at least made seven horcruxes. The sight of his red eyes filled her mind, as well as his long finger and his snake-like eyes.

But, for some reason, she was unable to put one and the other together, even if they undoubtedly were.

She remembered mentioning the effects of making a horcrux to him, and while she was referring more to the psychological aspects of it, as some experts concluded that parting the soul lead to a change in the mind of the wizard, as with each parting they lost consciousness and the ability to rationalize.

If that were the case, Tom would completely lose himself in the future, possibly becoming completely deranged. What she didn’t know though, was that it could have some aspects that affected the wizard’s physical appearance, but seeing that Tom’s eyes sometimes glow red, she didn’t think it was that far off.

She spent the rest of the day contemplating things of a similar matter, her mind a constant turmoil even with Madam Pomfrey advised her to lay back and relax, but as she didn’t have anything better to waste her time on, she didn’t listen.

Finally at dinner time, the healer left her free, so she gathered up her things and left the room.

Her eyes immediately took sight of Abraxas and Victor who were walking amongst some of her other friends. Luckily for Arabella, Tom was nowhere to be seen, but from the little knowledge she had of him, she knew she hadn’t seen the last of him just yet.

It was Lestrange who saw her first, as he waved happily at her, grinning, to which she replied with a grin of her own. The rest of the group saw her, then, as she made their way towards them.

She simply greeted Laurence, William and James, while she hugged Victor and Abraxas, who kept his arm over her shoulders as they made their way to the Great Hall.

“How are you doing?” he said in a low tone.

“I’m good now, thanks. I heard you last night, trying to come into the Hospital Wing.”

“Yeah, Pomfrey was having none of it. We managed to slip in for a bit this morning, Vero and I.”

“I assume the flowers were Veronica’s doing.” she said in a joking manner.

“You’d be correct.” he said in the same tone.

“Do you want to talk about what happened? Last night you disappeared all of the sudden and next thing I know, Tom is carrying you to the Infirmary.”

“Perhaps another day, okay?”

“Sure.” he simply said.

They had already reached the Hall, but they were a little bit behind their friends, who were walking ahead of them.

It was a weird notion, referring to those boys as her friends, as for the previous years she had spent the majority of her time either with Veronica and Adelaine or Victor and Abraxas, but as she watched how Lestrange had William in a headlock, and James and Victor were talking and laughing with them, the word simply felt natural in her tongue.

\---

One morning, a letter from her father dropped in front of her during breakfast.

“Dear Arabella,

I was informed of your stay in the Infirmary by the healer. I hope that won’t affect your grades.

I wanted to inform you that after talking to the Rosier family, Alexander will attend the ball that they are hosting this Holidays. I was also informed that you have been invited to stay there for the holidays, and even if I am disappointed that you have yet to tell me, I will allow it.

I look forward to seeing how you and Alexander get along as, after all, he might be the man you will end up marrying.

I will see you at the ball, and I expect you to be on your best behaviour.

Sincerely, Albert.”

Two weeks had passed since she left the Hospital wing, and it was only then that she received news from her father.

She folded the letter and saved it in her bag, deciding that she would write back later on during the day, as a scoff formed in her face.

During those two weeks she had barely seen Tom, which she was grateful for, as with her new found realizations she wasn’t exactly sure as to how to act anymore.

She seemed to be completely out of luck this morning, as once she had saved her letter and she had gotten up from her seat, having decided to spend the time by the Black Lake until it was time for her first class, Tom came into view just as she was stepping out of the Great Hall.

Unable to ignore his presence as they were now standing in front of each other, Tom was the first one to react.

“Good morning, Selwyn.”

“Morning.” she said as she forced herself to look his way.

What surprised her though, is that when she looked at him she didn’t see any trace of the monster in his visions. It was just Tom. Even if his morals were questionable and his decisions broke most people’s moral codes, as far as she knew, he was not the monster, it was not him yet.

When relief flashed through her it was quickly replaced with disgust and self-loathing, because the rational part of her mind knew that he was far from a good person.

“I think we should talk.” the boy said, and despite how he had phrased it, she knew that he was simply informing her about an upcoming conversation, rather than proposing one.

Still, she tried to get her way out of it. “I can’t. I’m quite busy.”

“We haven’t been assigned any new assignments.” he simply retorted.

“I have a thing called hobbies.”

He rolled his eyes at her.

“Let 's go.”

He walked away after that, leaving Arabella wondering if he was going to have breakfast or not or if he had just come here to find her.

Going against her better judgement, she followed him, but as they travelled down the corridors she quickly realized how he was looking for an empty classroom, which made her stop in her tracks.

“I’m not following you into an empty room.”

He seemed exasperated at all of the negatives he was getting from her today.

“Why not?”

“There has not been a single time where that has ended well, so if you want to talk, fine, so be it, but it will be on my terms.”

She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

He looked at her for a few seconds, considering his options, before he answered “Fine.”

She guided him then to the Black Lake, where it was empty enough so that there wouldn’t be people to overhear their conversation, but it was still busy enough that she felt safe.

She took a seat on a rock then, shortly followed by him, who imitated her action, although with a look of distaste about how the situation had turned out clear on his features.

She focused her gaze on the lake, waiting for him to speak, but as she noticed how he was simply looking at her, she ended up being the one to break the silence.

“Are you just going to sit there and look at me all morning?” she said, still not looking at him.

“I believe it’s you who needs to do the explaining.” he prompted her.

“Is that so?” she said, turning to look at him for the first time.

“Yes. It’s not exactly common for one to pass out just by somebody touching their wrist, so I would assume that you are either extremely touch starved, which I greatly doubt by the way Rosier and Malfoy seem to use you as their permanent arm rest or there is something you aren’t telling me.” he said, looking smug.

“If I were to have a secret Tom, why do you think I would be telling you?” she said as she raised an eyebrow at him.

“It would be in your best interest.” he simply responded.

“How come?”

“I’ll end up finding out either way.”

She worried then, she had to admit. She had never particularly feared him before, but now everything seemed to have changed, even if she had to pretend that they remained the same.

She still scoffed at him. “You are too arrogant for your own good.”

“It’s simply the truth. Very few things slip past me, like your association with Dumbledore”

She looked incredulous as she heard him “My association with Dumbledore?”

“You know well what I’m talking about. I know he asked you to spy on me.”

Laughter erupted from her lips then, something he couldn’t quite comprehend.

“What do you find so amusing?” he asked as he grew frustrated.

“You, Tom. God, you must think so highly of yourself. You are not that important, I promise on Merlin.” she said, taunting him.

“Then what, Selwyn? You do not seem quite like the type to dwell with dark magic, yet you stole a book from the restricted section to read about Horcruxes. How do you even know what they are?”

“I’m a curious person, that’s all.” she simply said, but as her eyes didn’t meet his for the first time in the entirety of the conversation, he could tell that she was lying.

Perhaps he had gone about her wrong, and he was now beginning to see. Two objectives were currently clear in his mind, and they both blended into each other.

Using her for connections and information, for his own personal gain, and unravelling the puzzle that she was, for his own satisfaction.

He wanted to ask more questions, to dig and to learn from her, and if not from her answers, precisely from how she looked when she didn’t want to talk, from how her back straightened up whenever she knew someone was looking at her, almost as if she was trying to pass some unknown inspection.

He wanted to know about her mother, and about how she always landed herself in the infirmary every semester since their second year. He needed to know about the time she was in St.Mungos, and about why her gaze was currently filled with more hatred than it ever was.

He had previously considered her fear to be amusing, and even if some part of him still thought the same way, a bigger part of him hated the negative emotions that always seemed to radiate from her when he was in her presence. It was only because it complicated things further for him, of course, but it was infuriating, nonetheless.

He wasn’t able to gain any more knowledge though, as a voice suddenly called for them cutting through the silence.

“Are you two coming or what?” It belonged to Laurence.


	7. Chapter 7

Taking the chance

Taking the chance, she quickly got up from her seat, walking towards him. Because she had her back towards him though, she wasn’t able to see the furious glance Tom had sent Laurence, so she didn’t quite understand why Laurence’s facial expression seemed to change into something that closely resembled fear.

She wasn’t able to ask him though, as it disappeared as soon as it came, and as Tom was already by their side.

Truth was, Tom had realized how for one reason or another, she seemed to know things about him she wasn’t quite letting on. He had previously assumed it was due to an association with Dumbledore and even if he wasn’t completely sure that she had been entirely honest when asking her about it, he now had to contemplate other possibilities.

So far, even though she was deeply interested, he had placed his focus on locating Grindelwald, who was now in continental Europe but apparently was planning to travel to England soon, or so had James discovered.

But now that some of his plans were getting executed and he had a little bit more time in his hands, he could dedicate it to studying her. Because even if his previous suspicions had been wrong, he was sure that nothing in Arabella’s behaviour was the result of coincidences.

He was curious as to why she would know about horcruxes if it hadn’t been for Dumbledore. Would she have figured what horcruxes he had hidden? The people he had killed? But it was highly unlikely, he had planned everything perfectly.

And perhaps he would have been able to get some information out of her if Laurence hadn’t interrupted them. Still, he would make sure that he remembered not to interrupt them in the future, but he was not too worried about that at the moment.

“So, Selwyn, do you think Veronica is a roses kind of girl?”

“I beg your pardon?” she asked incredulously

“I mean… Do you think she’ll like it if I give her a bouquet of roses? Or would she like some chocolates better?”

A small smile threatened to appear on her face

“Never in my life would I have thought I’d have Laurence Lestrange asking me for advice on how to get a girl to like him.” she said, humoured, to what he looked at her with puppy eyes pleadingly.

She looked at him for a few seconds, before shaking her head in disbelief.

“If you want to give her flowers, don’t go for roses. Get her some poppies, those are her favourites.”

A grin split his face then “Thank you Selwyn, I owe you one.” he said happily, as he turned around and started walking away from them.

“Where are you going?” said Tom, who had been quiet as he watched the exchange.

“To find some poppies, of course.” Laurence answered, like it was obvious.

“He really is lovesick, isn’t he?” she said quietly once the boy had disappeared.

“Apparently. Quite pathetic, if you ask me.”

She rolled her eyes at him. It seemed to be a common thing for her to do when he was around.

“Is there any occasion where you aren’t grumpy?”

He shocked his head in disbelief, leaving an irritated sigh escape from his lips.

\---

“All done.” Veronica suddenly announced, revealing William’s new look. He, Veronica and Arabella now had matching green and silver snakes drawn on their left cheeks, ready to support their house on the upcoming game.

“Are you sure you don’t want one too, baby?” William said as he walked up to his girlfriend.

Adelaine looked almost disgusted at the thought, which made the three of them laugh.

They then walked out of the girl’s room, all four of them wearing their house scarf and holding a banter they had done during their free time.

In the common room they found James and Tom talking, who were waiting for them.

“Mate, what is that?” James said when he took notice of the snake on William’s cheek. “It’s called a snake, James.” Adelaine said as a smirk tugged at her lips, linking her arm with her boyfriends’.

The group then headed to the pitch.

They managed to get a great position, in the front rows of the Slytherin stalls. With James holding the banter on one side and William on the other, the message was finally displayed to be seen by everyone.

“SUCK IT GRYFFINDOR” stood proudly on dark green letters, with a serpent next to it.

Tom had reprimanded the group for their childish behaviour, but a small smile threatened to tug at his lips even as he did so.

Not too long after arriving, the teams entered the field. First, it was the Gryffindor team, and then, the Slytherins.

Laurence, Abraxas and Victor turned to look for their friends in the audience as soon as they entered the pitch, laughing amongst themselves when they saw the banter.

Veronica loved to watch the games, so she and Adelaine went to almost all of them, but it wasn’t the case for Arabella. She had dreaded flying class during their first year and only attended during games like these that she knew were important to her friends.

Besides her, Tom appeared to be equally disinterested.

“Do you not enjoy Quidditch, Tom?” she asked when she finally took notice of his bored appearance. What she didn’t quite understand is why he had decided to attend in the first place.

“I consider it to be a waste of valuable time.” he drily responded.

“Of course you would say that.” she said in a joking manner. She seemed to be chirpier than usual today, as she flashed him a small smile.

“What do you mean?” he said, turning to look at her, raising an eyebrow at her as he did.

“You would much rather spend your time planning world domination or something like that.” she told him as she looked at him.

He merely scoffed and rolled his eyes at the girl.

Slytherin ended up winning, and even though neither Tom nor Arabella knew much about the game, it was still clear that with 270 against 30, they had wiped the floor with the Gryffindor team.

Walking into the common room, the party had already erupted. It was a sea of green and silver, packed with students from all years. Veronica, Adelaine and Arabella decided against joining their friends in the middle of the action, leaning against the wall closest to the entrance to the girl’s dormitories.

“Your boyfriend is having a blast.” Adelaine said with a half-smile, watching Laurence, who was standing on top of a coffee table.

“Who?” Veronica said, following her friend’s gaze. When they landed on Laurence, a blush creeped up on her cheeks. “He’s not my boyfriend!” she restored quickly, as she went to grab a bottle of Fire Whiskey on a nearby cupboard.

“No, but you want him to be.” Adelaine told her, and based on Veronica’s face, it was a miracle that she hadn’t spit out the drink.

“You don’t actually like him though, do you?” Arabella asked her. The shortest girl didn’t respond, her face getting redder by the second.

“Wait, you do!” the redhead’s mouth fell open

“What are you waiting for, then?” the tallest of the trio asked

“What do you mean?”

“To finally go on a date with him.”

“Well… I… maybe he doesn’t like me or not that way. I don’t- I don’t know.” Veronica said.

“For the love of Merlin, Vero, he literally gave you a love letter on our second day of school.”

A while later, the room was filled to the brim. Music filled the space, but the conversations distorted it to a point where all songs that played became unrecognizable. Because of it, Arabella and the rest of her friends ended up finding themselves sitting by the Black Lake once again.

It had quickly become one of her favourite places to be, and the chill air of the night and the quiet atmosphere, only being broken by the slurred words and giggles from the friend group, were a great change from the atmosphere in the dungeons.

It was quite dark outside, but the light coming from some of the windows in the castle and the moonlight provided enough light for them to distinguish the most basic shapes until their eyes finally adapted to the dark.

Tom and Arabella were the only people still sober in the group, the rest of the group having drank anywhere from one to more drinks than they could count.

She noticed how he didn’t look quite content with the situation, which brought an involuntary grin to her face. He stayed somewhat behind the group, standing with his back to a tall tree.

From there, he observed the rest of the group. Arabella, in contrast, seemed to be happier than he’d ever seen her, her back not completely straight and in a much more relaxed position instead, her hair slightly dishevelled instead of perfectly parted and a full grin that, for the first time, met her eyes.

She was currently resting her head against Adelaine’s shoulder while the girl drew soft circles on her back, when they were interrupted by Mulciber and Malfoy.

They didn’t seem to mind the interruption, though, as they laughed as something they were saying that Tom didn’t manage to hear from where he was standing.

The two got up then, following the two boys to the pier. It wasn’t the one they had arrived at in their first year, but instead a smaller one used if the school ever received visitors. Veronica was there, talking to Victor, while Lestrange and Avery were in the water.

Adelaine proceeded to sit down with Mulciber by her side, but before Arabella could imitate the gesture, she felt herself getting thrown into the water.

Even if he was far away, Tom was still able to hear the scream that left her lips.

He tried to convince himself that their behaviour was extremely childish and that he was above that, but he still found himself walking towards the pier, yet only because it would be adequate that he fit in with the rest of teenagers, or so he tried to convince himself.

By the time he reached the group, both Arabella and Victor had joined Lestrange and Avery in the water, while Veronica and Abraxas laughed.

In the end, they had all ended up in the water, as Adelaine had pushed William and Tom in before jumping with Veronica.

And there, as they tried to get out of the water, Tom realized one of the things Arabella wasn’t good at.

She was a rather terrible swimmer, as even if she managed to get out of the water by herself, all of the grace that always seemed to accompany her at every movement was completely lost.

And as she finally left the water, taking slightly longer than he had, his eyes stayed glued at the way the green fabric of her dress glued to every one of her curves, and in that moment, he realized something he hadn’t quite seen before.

Truth was, Arabella was quite beautiful. Many boys had been enraptured with her and her beauty before, all of different houses and years. He would often hear them walking in the hallways when she walked by, but they rarely actually approached her, as the times they had, they had always been turned down.

It wasn’t weird that they did, after all, her features were quite symmetrical, with plump rosy lips and grey doe eyes, but her physical appearance wasn’t her only good attribute, as she was also intelligent, even he had to admit.

As he was thinking, she noticed how his eyes were glued on her and she became thankful for the darkness, as she hoped that it would cover the reddish tint that had taken over her cheeks.

She cast a drying spell on herself, and after she was finished, she cast one on him, which caught him by surprise, bringing him back to reality.

He moved his gaze away from her then and shortly after, they all made their way onto the common room, where most of the party had died down, at least for the people from other houses, who seemed to have returned to their respective common rooms, leaving only some Slytherins who drank firewhisky like it was water.

Only Victor, Laurence and William continued the night there, as the rest retreated to their rooms, the girls casting a quietening charm once they entered their rooms with the hopes of getting some sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

The cold had now found a permanent home within the castle’s walls, the grounds receiving the first snows of the year. The dungeons, cold enough as they were, had the fireplace permanently lit and not even the merfolks seemed to enjoy the weather. Sweaters and scarves had taken over the student’s wardrobes, who were silently wishing for the holidays, as whether they spent it at home or at the castle, they would still free their hands from the ink stains for a few weeks.

Therefore, when professor Slughorn announced a project that they would be doing with a partner and that would take them at least two months of work, everyone seemed displeased.

The worst part though wasn’t necessarily the project in itself, it was the fact that he was going to be the one choosing the partners.

Arabella looked around the classroom, trying to see who would make a good partner. The majority of the students were Slytherin, and she knew she most likely wouldn’t have any problems with them, nor would she with the two only Hufflepuffs, who sat together in the back of the class.

Out of the Ravenclaws, there was only one of them that she didn’t find irritating and the Gryffindors… well, she could only hope she wouldn’t be paired up with one.

She didn’t have to wait much to find out though, as only after three pairings she heard her name being called.

“Arabella… oh, yes here. Arabella and Tom, you will be working together.”

She felt the glances from some of their classmates. Slughorn seemed excited, some of their friends humoured, and she also received some glares from a few girls from different houses.

She fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Not only did they have to work together as Head Boy and Head girl already, they also shared the same friends, making them see each other almost daily, not she wouldn’t be able to leave his side for at least two months.

Tom wasn’t a good person. Not by any means, and not even if he wasn’t always showing it.

They argued quite frequently and for the past few weeks, he seemed to have grown an interest in her, as it was now common for him to ask her questions about the Ministry or what she knew about the founders, and when he wasn’t around, there was always one of his closest friends in the room, which she doubted were simply coincidences.

Once all of the couples were called, students took their seats by their new partners. Abraxas didn’t try to hide how displeased he looked as he walked towards one of the Gryffindors nor did James, now paired up with a Ravenclaw.

“I want you to work with your partners to invent new potions. It’s quite a hard task, of course, and I expect that not all of you will be able to accomplish it by the end of the two months, but the main purpose is to use your imagination and put into use the knowledge you’d been acquiring so far in your education to create something unique.”

It was a hard task, not many wizards could claim to have successfully created new potions, yet with the constant reminder of her father’s words in her head “it’s not about doing good, it’s about being perfect. Better than anyone else, the Selwyn line is anything but mediocre” she knew he would only be satisfied if she managed to do it.

She felt his presence growing closer, before he spoke quietly “I’ll meet you in the dungeons at six.”

Through the whole day, she wasn’t able to think about anything different.

So, there she was, at three to six standing by the common room’s door, waiting for him. He appeared at exactly six o’clock, his stride tall and confident as usual.

He didn’t speak a word to her as he approached where he was, simply leading the way instead. Indistinct chatter from students could be heard as they walked across the hallways, their bubble of silence only broken as he seemed to walk past the Library doors.

“Are we not going to do the project in the Library?”

He started to answer, yet she paid him no thought as she stepped into the library, where the only things that could be heard were the clicking of her shoes against the ground and the soft sound of moving pages.

They walked to the only table empty, at the end of the room. Her own mouth hung open when, as they encountered the librarian, she greeted Tom happily, breaking her own rule that she had strictly imposed about people needing to be in silence at all times.

It was natural for him though, so he simply smiled at her in his usual charming way before placing his things on the table. Arabella’s were already there.

He joined her by the potions section, where she was standing carrying three books, not without effort, and she was trying to pick up a fourth. Her brows were furrowed together as she stood in her tippy toes, one hand reaching up while the other held the heavy tomes.

He remembered then how her wand had been poking out from the leather bag she always carried. He watched her struggle for a few seconds, before simply reaching for the book that stood only slightly over his eye level.

He walked towards their table then, with her following shortly behind. He took a seat in front of her, and as he turned the pages mindlessly, he looked at her from the corner of his eye.

She was looking for something in her bag, until she eventually pulled out a hair clip, pulling her hair in a bun with it. She never noticed him staring.

They read the contents of the books in silence for a while, trying to get ideas on what exactly they could try to create. It was Tom who finally broke the silence, as he looked up from the book pages he had buried his head into.

“I think we could do a healing potion.”

Her left eyebrow rose up, seemingly surprised.

“Alright.”

It was now his eyebrow to rose, not fully expecting her to agree.

“I’m quite surprised, if I’m honest, but I think it might be a good idea.” she added.

He simply nodded, as he turned to look into a different section of the book. She imitated his gesture, trying to come up with ingredients and ideas.

Neither of them noticed the hands of the clock moving, nor the sound of the chairs scraping the floor as students progressively left the room until it was just them and the librarian. They were in their own little bubble, only speaking to show the other some ingredient they could use, as they further formulated a plan.

Their bubble only popped when they heard someone clearing their throat, and as they both turned to look at the source of the sound, they found the librarian looking at them.

They hadn’t noticed either how the room was now much more dim, how the stars filled the sky and the only sources of light came from a few candles scattered around the room, just enough light to let them work, or how the librarian had been waiting for them to leave for a while, as she should have closed the library already, yet hadn’t because she didn’t want to disturb some of the only students that seemed to know how to behave in a library.

It was only after seeing her that they realized how the feast had already started in the Great hall. So, they picked up their things quickly, and with a light movement of their wands, the books were sent back to their corresponding place.

Without further talking, they found their way towards the Great Hall. As they grew closer, the sound of students talking grew louder, yet they stayed in silence. Even when they encountered the transfiguration professor, who looked at them with a certain glim in his eyes.

They didn’t even talk as they reached their table, Tom finding his place between William and James while Arabella sat between Adelaine and Laurence.

\---

That night, Arabella was sitting down in the common room with Abraxas. It was a tradition of sorts, where they would sit in the same couch they had since first year, Arabella sitting down and propping her feet up on the coffee table while Abraxas laid down, placing his head on her lap and allowing her to mindlessly play with his hair.

“You seem to have taking a liking for Riddle.”

“What do you mean?”

“You seem to be quite close to him. Thought you were wrapped up around his finger.”

She rolled her eyes at him.

“He’s just everywhere I go. Believe me that if I could, I would help it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Abraxas responded.

Her eyebrows rose in surprise

“You don’t like him very much either, do you?” she questioned

“I don’t.” he then signalled for her to come closer, until her ear was almost touching his mouth “He hosts meetings almost every week and Victor has been attending for a month or so. He’s been acting quite weird, as well”

She rose slightly until her back touched the couch again, and merely nodded her head.

She had known Tom and some other boys disappeared some afternoons, almost every week, but never knew the nature of their departures. What could Tom want from others? He was intelligent enough to achieve anything he wanted on his own, so then what? He was pretty secretive, so if he was trusting others it meant that he saw it as a necessity, but what for?

What she had seen in her prophecies, the horcruxes, were something he was perfectly capable on his own as, after all, only two people were required in order to murder.

The thought of Tom killing sent a shiver down her spine, as she knew he had done it before, even if she didn’t know under what circumstances. Was it done in self-defence? Deep down, she severely doubted it, but then, could he be saved? Was she as sick as twisted as he was, since when she saw him she was incapable of seeing the murderer? Had he fooled her like he had fooled many? Could he have some redemption?

The door opened then, revealing Laurence and Victor talking to each other.

When he took notice of his friends though, he ran towards the couch and threw himself on the couch, landing on top of Abraxas, who winced at the weight on him.

“Victor for fuck’s sake will you move?” Abraxas groaned

“I don’t think so, it’s pretty comfortable here.” the dark haired boy responded.

An amused Laurence sat on the couch in front of them, watching as Abraxas stirred on the couch, making Victor fall to the ground with a thud.

\---

The week turned out uneventful after Monday, with patrolling two nights a week, having met Riddle three more times to work on their assignment, a meeting with the prefects and some studying, she hadn’t had time to stop.

Exactly a week after they had met for the first time, she waited for him at once again three to six, with him appearing three minutes after. It seemed like they both were creatures of habit.

This time around though, Tom, who was the one who always seemed to lead the way whenever they were together, didn’t stop once they reached the tall wooden doors of the library, much like a week before, and so, she repeated the same question she asked him then.

“There’s little we can do at the library now, we have got most of the information that we need and if we want to have the potion done by the deadline, we better get brewing.”

And because she didn’t have anything to respond with, she followed him. She didn’t verbally express anything, but her heart seemed to beat faster against her chest and without noticing, she was playing with her ring, white gold with her family crest engraved on it.

Murderer, murderer, murderer. The words repeated themselves in her head. Surely if he had wanted to murder her he would have done it already, would he? She hadn’t done anything to infuriate him enough for him to want to kill her, or not as of recently, at least, but she didn’t exactly know how a murderer’s mind worked, either.

If only she was doing the project with somebody else, if only they hadn’t duelled, if only they hadn’t had their first conversation, if only they didn’t share the same friends, if only she wasn’t a seer, if only Arabella wasn’t Arabella and if only Tom wasn’t Tom, it would be better and easier, but of course, one couldn’t change their reality, so she followed him to the seventh floor.

And before them, as they paced through one particular corridor, a door appeared suddenly before them. Arabella looked at Tom with widened eyes, but he didn’t share her surprised expression.

Instead, he simply held the door out for her, closing it once she had stepped inside without a further reaction or comment.

a further reaction or comment.


	9. Chapter 9

Inside, there was a small room with bookshelves that covered two out of the fourth walls. A black leather couch rested against one of the empty walls, a wooden chest of drawers next to it, the other one being where the door was.

There was a coffee table close to the sofa, and in the middle of the room stood a dark wooden table, with four chairs around it.

Pacing around the room, her mouth fell open in awe at the discovery.

“I have brought most of the things I think we will find necessary, I just need to go fetch a cauldron and a few other things. Stay here, will you?”

She simply nodded. 

What was that room and how had Tom been able to find it? Never in her seven years in the castle had she seen something similar, and she wondered if it was a phenomenon that only happened on the seventh floor, one that she didn’t visit often.

She inspected the bookshelves closely, all of the books they had read in the library were there, along with some others talking about different kinds of magic.

Barely any time had seemed to pass until she heard the door opening again, showing Tom, who carried a brass cauldron.

As he placed it on the table, Arabella came closer, as he pulled out two small bottles from the cauldron containing moonstone on one and what looked like a crocodile heart in the other.

Then, from his bag, he brought the rest of the ingredients. Peppermint, lavender, fluxweed and dittany.

“Get started with cutting the peppermint while I powder the moonstone.” he instructed.

She headed to the wooden chest, where she quickly found a suitable knife.

Their silence was slightly disrupted by a thunder. It wasn’t surprising, seeing that it had been raining for almost the entire week. And perhaps because the weather had been the first to disrupt their silent bubble already, it wasn’t odd when Tom spoke up.

“Arabella.” he called out. She simply hummed, signifying that she had heard him.

“It is said that Grinderwald had to do with your mother’s passing.” he said, carefully reading her expression.

He watched as her expression tensed up. She didn’t speak at first, but after a few seconds, she turned to look at him.

“That’s hardly any of your business.” she said, as she continued cutting the herbs.

“You’re not being quite fair, after all, you didn’t seem to mind my privacy when you asked about horcruxes.”

She didn’t answer.

“It’s curious. Everything tends to end up in the Daily Prophet, yet there’s not a single thing about your mother. I assume it’s your father’s doing.”

She gripped the handle of the knife tighter, something he didn’t miss. Moving from his spot, he moved from his position.

As she saw him walking towards her, she finally looked up, turning to face him, the knife still in her hand.

He grabbed her by the wrist, pulling the knife out of her hands and making it drop on the table.

Before she could react, she was trapped against the table, the wood uncomfortably digging against her back, as he took hold of both of her wrists with one hand while he held her chin upwards, forcing her to make eye contact with him, with the other.

“We both know that I will eventually find out all of the secrets you and your family are so desperately trying to hide, Arabella, so I’ll give you two options.”

The hand that held her face moved to play with a loose strand of her hair. She hated his proximity.

“I could help you, Arabella. You could drown in glory, get revenge if that’s what you want, if you tell me everything yourself. We would both be benefit each other, if we worked together”

The hand then moved to her jaw, locking it in place, as his face grew closer to hers.

“Or I can find out on my own, expose it all.”

He moved backwards ever so slightly, until he was able to look at her face again.

“I will never work with you, and if you really think that you can bring me down, do it please, I would love to see you try.”

She felt the grip on her wrists tightening.

“I guess you don’t leave me another option.” he said.

Almost immediately after, she felt the familiar feeling of someone trying to dig into her thoughts, similar to how her tutor had tried to teach her, yet much more intrusive.

Occlumency was perhaps one of the only areas she hadn’t been able to master, but despite that the fire inside her veins raged, and she had other ways of defending herself if it wasn’t with mental barriers.

She was pushing against his restraints on her, now, as her thoughts began to become clear.

He was surprisingly strong, so simply trying to pull away wouldn’t work.

She concentrated, then, her nails beginning to dig against the flesh of her hands, and she centred all of her energy as she saw him using accio to get his wand.

House life… Childhood friends… a funeral… Grindelwald. He had finally hit the jackpot.

The wand reached his hand then, and as he was drawing it closer to her, beginning to mutter the letters to the spell “obli-“ he was suddenly sent back, landing against the floor, his wand leaving his hand as he did so.

He hadn’t expected her to know any wandless magic.

They both grabbed their wands, as Tom raised from the floor.

He didn’t seem altered despite his frustrated plans, Arabella suppressed the shiver that was sent down her spine.

This time, there was no professor to stop them, no limit to the magic any of them could use, and a renewed fury.

She was the one to send the first spell, something he had been awaiting for. After all, if it came to that, he could say all of his spells were simple self-defence.

Strong wind threatened to knock him off his feet, but he was faster.

He blocked it.

She didn’t hear the words he spoke next, but she managed to catch the subtle movement of his wand.

She shielded herself as light came flying from his wand. He didn’t give her any rest, as fire blasted from his wand.

Aquamenti. Their wands were locked, one wanting to overpower the other.

He eventually let go, and so did she.

It was now her turn to attack, as she sent piles of books flying at him, all of them flying close to his head.

Only two managed to hit him, enough to infuriate him.

Eyes flashed red then. Nothing ever good happened when they did.

He shattered them into pieces, before transfiguring them into small daggers that he sent towards her.

She managed to shield herself, before sending them back.

He made them explode, finally turning them into fine dust.

While Tom was clearly tense, trying to hold onto any control he had, it was clear that he felt comfortable duelling. He seemed to be able to predict any spell that would come, and how to deflect it, almost as if it was a second nature.

Arabella was precise, her stand perfect, yet her movements were always calculated and always part of a routine that somebody had thought of. Arabella wasn’t a natural duellist, she had been taught how to be a decent one.

It had seemed to work, after all, she was able to stand her ground against him. Yet, part of what made someone good at duelling was their own instinct, which was something only Tom possessed.

Stunning spell, leg locker spell, glacius, aquamenti, full body bind.

They shielded whatever it was that the other sent.

But then fog filled the room, ripped pages from the books filled the air in a motion that Tom controlled, and unable to see him, she couldn’t do anything when rope suddenly brought her to the floor.

Her arms tied together behind her back, the wand lying on the floor, and a few seconds after, ankles that suffered the same fate as the arms.

Arabella didn’t hide her anger, not like Tom did.

The furrow in her brows made it easy to tell.

He cleared the chaos, and came closer to her, kneeling besides her.

“Legilimency.”

It was a curious thing, reading someone’s mind.

Sometimes, if the subject was willing, images were clear and it was only difficult to tread on them if one was exploring difficult topics, in a similar way to a subject who had been too tortured and exhausted to object.

That had been what had happened with Rosier. He was a known occlumens, so he had left him no other choice, really. That time, while his thoughts were clear, there was a certain fogginess that accompanied them, reflective of the state.

Both of those scenarios were different to what happened when a subject opposed to legilimency.

When one tried to fight off their mind being read, like Arabella was, thoughts presented themselves almost in a knot of possibilities, hard to pick ideas from one another.

When one finally managed to get through the objections though, everything was much more vivid. The emotions felt raw, both the ones belonging to the memories and the ones the subject felt.

Arabella’s rage filled him and oh, it was such a sweet sensation.

He could tell that she had at least had some sort of training in occlumency yet it had naturally not been successful.

He felt it in the way she was constantly forcing her thoughts to drift from one onto the other, making his task at getting to what particularly interested him hard, as it was a constant distraction.

It didn’t make it impossible though, as he was finally able to reach what he had been aiming for.

She could see healers rushing from one room to the other through half-closed lids, too tired to open them completely, yet the pain making it impossible for her to close them fully to try and get some rest.

She felt her father’s warm palm on top of hers, cold and small, as well as her mother’s fingers running through her hair, untangling it.

She managed to open the slightest bit more, taking in her mother’s appearance.

Her features were pointed, her face paler than before. She hadn’t been eating well lately, nor had she been living well, for the matter, lately.

She had been laying in a bed similar to hers not too long ago.

And when she turned her head to look at her father, she noticed how much of a toll it had taken on him.

His hair had started thinning, and his eyes were glossy, even if his glasses tried to hide it.

Some nurse gave her a potion, and everything was pitch black.

When she woke up again, she felt the presence of her father besides her. He was sitting next to her in the bed, drawing soft circles in her arm, not knowing she was awake.

She was ready to open up her eyes, but she heard the healers talking and she decided to keep quiet.

“The bloodcurse… we don’t know how long she will live.”

A strangled cry erupted from her father’s voice, sore.

“You were hit by the curse during the pregnancy, so it’s quite different from other cases we’ve seen. She will hopefully make it into adulthood, but we are unable to tell how long.”

“Is she always going to be like this, is there nothing that can be done?” her mother spoke, her usual gentle tone far lost.

“We can try to administer potions and other sorts of healing magic to improve her quality of life and perhaps, lengthen it.”

Next memory. He was too invested to feel how she had stopped resisting his attempts to read her mind.

Piano Sonata No.2. Chopin’s famous funeral march.

Long black dresses and robes, a crowded cemetery with a long lost family that whispered “I’m sorry for your loss.” that she didn’t even know who they were.

There were too many people, a lot more than she would have wanted.

She didn’t like it.

Reluctantly, she made her way next to her father.

He had been crying all morning.

And whenever he saw his daughter, tears threatened to fill his eyes.

He knew that she would leave him, too, they both did.

She lost count of how many people approached them.

She even recognized someone her mother swore to hate.

Funerals were for those that were alive, she thought.

Because if it had been for her mother, there wouldn’t be piano playing, music was for when we were happy, and there wouldn’t be this many people.

“Such a tragedy… a fifteen year old left without a mother… some say he will remarry, but I don’t think he will.”

“He has to, doesn’t he? I heard that the girl is sickly too, he needs a heir to inherit everything”

Two older women talked about her like she wasn’t present, but she didn’t tell them anything.

She lost track of time after that, too focused on seeing how the casket was slowly covered by dirt, and then her father told his speech.

He talked about the evil forces that threatened the wizarding world, and about how great of a wife her mother had been, about overcoming difficult times and about some memorable moments. She had been present in some, but a lot of them were from before she was born. Before things went downhill.

The rest of the memories were repetitive.

Apparently her grandmother on her father’s side had died when she refused to join Grindelwald, and he had looked for the minister’s wife then, perhaps in hopes that the minister would crumble if he killed those he loved. He was still minister of magic nowadays, so they were all deaths that could’ve been avoided.

She took a different potion every day and visited a healer every year to see how things were going.

He had known about parts of the story, after all, he had used legilimency on Rosier for a reason, but some parts of it were new, and while he understood parts of Arabella better, some parts of her were even more confusing.

If she knew she was condoned to dying somewhat soon, why was she so against immortality? Surely, it would have solved all of the problems in her life.

When he looked at her face again, it was almost as if a new set of eyes was looking at him.

She had looked at him before with a lot of different emotions, rage like in moments prior, curiosity when they had discussed manners such as immortality, joy when they had been in the pier, anxious when he had approached her after she left the hospital wing.

Now, her eyes looked at him with disgust.

He freed her from her restraints, and she simply got up from the floor, before grabbing her wand and turning to face him, now that he had stood up.

She walked closer to him, and spoke quietly “I despise you.”

He believed her.

She then moved away, and exited the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Walking through the corridors, she ignored the soreness of her wrists, as she walked straight towards the Infirmary.

Walking through the doors, the only people there were the healer and a first year Hufflepuff, who by the broom next to the bed he was laying in, it appeared that he hadn’t been that successful during flying class.

After seeing her enter though, Madam Pomfrey left him and walked towards her.

“What’s wrong, dear?” she said.

Apparently she hadn’t been doing the best job at hiding her emotions even if she had managed to contain her tears.

“Could I get a calming draught, please?” she said, her voice shaky.

The healer didn’t respond, but instead turned around and walked towards a cabinet. Arabella followed her.

After rummaging for a bit, she pulled out a small vial.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” the woman said, looking at her with a soft expression on her face.

“No, thank you. I just- I need to find Slughorn.” Arabella said, as she opened the vial.

She then brought it to her lips, drinking its contents avidly.

“I believe you might find him in his office.”

“Thank you. I’m fine, by the way, it’s just too much stress from the classes and… all that. Well, I need to go find him now, thanks Madam Pomfrey.” she said all too quickly for the healer to believe her.

Still, she didn’t press any further. “Okay. Just remember to not stress too much, it’s not good for you.” she said as she pursed her lips into a tight smile.

Arabella simply nodded, before giving her back the empty vial and turning around.

Finally reaching Slughron’s office, the calming draught was now working, and while her hands were still slightly trembling, she felt much more in control of her emotions.

She knocked on the door twice.

“Come in.” called Slughorn from the inside.

“Oh! Arabella, come on, please take a seat.” he happily said once she stepped into the room.

“Oh, thanks, but I believe it won’t be necessary. I just wanted to ask you a question.” she responded.

By the expression on his face, she could tell that she had surprised him.

“And what might you be wondering?” the professor asked.

“Could I do the project with someone else? I’ll do it with a Gryffindor even, if it’s necessary, or by myself.”

He looked puzzled.

“Did something happen between you and Tom?” his brows furrowed down, he looked concerned.

“We don’t exactly see eye to eye, sir.” she explained.

“I’m sorry Arabella, but I can’t. It wouldn’t be fair to the rest of your classmates.” he said.

She bit her tongue and waited for a few seconds before responding, wanting to measure her words.

“I understand. Well, thank you for your time.” she simply responded, before turning around, as she no longer saw a point for the conversation.

As she approached the door, the professor spoke once more.

“Arabella.”

She turned around to look at him.

“I hope you and Tom manage to work around your issues. I paired you two because you two are my most brilliant students,” he stopped for a few seconds “don’t tell anyone I said that, it wouldn’t be quite fair.”

A faint smile lit up her features “It’ll be our secret, sir.”

“Good. So, as I was saying. You two are great students, and I think that you could do a great project if you are able to work together.”

She nodded at him, signalling that she had heard him, before she continued making her way out of the room.

\---

Going straight to the common room, she mentally cursed the head of house as she made her way there.

As she opened the door, she found Laurence, William and James hanging out by some of the couches.

She tried to walk quietly, planning to slide into the girl’s dormitories without being noticed, but it was with no avail as almost as soon as she entered she heard William call.

“Arabella!”

She turned around, forcing a smile on her face.

Perhaps if she spent some time with them, it would be some time that she wouldn’t spend thinking.

She took a seat in a velvet armchair, leaving the leather couches to the three boys.

“Oh, Arabella, I forgot to tell you, but I must say, you’re an absolute genius.” Laurence said, with a broad grin.

Arabella raised an eyebrow, humoured. “I know that, but you must specify what you are referring to.”

“About the flowers. She seemed to really like them.” a dreamish formed in his face, softening his features.

“Mate, you’re whipped.” James snickered.

“What is it James, do you not like anyone?” William asked him.

“No, not particularly. If I did though, I would never be as soppy as this one over here.” the boy answered, motioning with his head to Laurence.

“What about you, Arabella?” William asked her, then, but before she could answer, Laurence spoke. “Oh, yeah, if there’s any bloke you like you can tell us, I need to repay you somehow.”

She smiled at them, sincerely. “If you all must know, there’s no one I fancy at the moment”

Laurence’s face seemed to light up then, as if he had just come up with something genius. “You two should go on a date together.” he said, as he pointed towards Arabella and James.

Arabella and James both seemed shocked at the comment, while William was simply too used to being around him for anything to surprise him.

“What? No!” James responded, almost immediately.

“Ouch.” Arabella said, pretending to be hurt.

“No offense, Arabella, but I’m not quite into the whole aristocracy thing.”

“None taken.” she simply replied.

It was curious watching their dynamics. Laurence was often what moved the group into action, whether it was a smart idea or a not so smart one, he was the one with the ideas, leading the way. She had previously thought that he would be quite arrogant, from the things she had said, but as time progressed, she realized that she had been mistaken.

She had also thought that the thinking head or mother of the group of sorts would have been James, as he was after all always composed and hard-working in class, but it turned out that it was William.

He was the quietest one of them, and the only one that seemed to know how to stop Laurence when one of his ideas turned out to be too idiotic.

James had specially surprised her. At first, he had seemed quite shy, but he was rather funny when he started to open up. He was quite intelligent, and teachers often thought of him as responsible, but from hearing their stories she knew he was as much of a trouble maker as the rest of them.

And then there was Tom, who they also hung out with.

Her stomach seemed to drop at the thought, but she tried to push it aside quickly, she really didn’t want to think of him at the moment.

“Ara, you okay? You seemed a little off.” Laurence asked her, seeing how suddenly her expression had dulled out.

Her heart caved ever so slightly at the nickname.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.” she quickly assured him, and regardless of whether he believed she was being honest or not, he didn’t press any further.

She didn’t move from that spot until the afternoon blended into the night, when the draught started to wear off and the feelings that she had been hiding were once again brought up to the surface.

She quickly excused herself, and walked into her bedroom.

Adelaine was there, reading in bed, so she didn’t pay her much thought.

She then quickly ran off to their shared bathroom, locking the door besides her.

She dropped to the ground, resting her back against the wooden door before closing her eyes.

She started to remember, all of the feelings numbed from the draught coming to the surface.

School, the classes she chose? The length of her hair, the style of her clothes? The people she met, the ones she saw once school was over? Her future? The person she would marry? Those were all decided by her father.

Her mind often seemed to be the one of the only things she seemed to have a full grasp on, where she was free to think whatever it was that she pleased and nobody would be there to correct her on it.

He had played with it, digging around and making the memories resurface.

The worst part of it all was that she had to be grateful he hadn’t seen anything about her prophecies, so perhaps she had done a better job at hiding that part of her than she had previously given herself credit for.

And perhaps now, Tom would leave her alone now, if he thought that what he had seen was all there was to her.

Because people like Tom were intoxicating, she knew he was dangerous yet she couldn’t quite pull apart, even if every time she remembered she wanted to kick herself, because pretending that there was nothing wrong was a complete breach of her own moral code, but he was such a good actor, and he made her forget.

Until red tinted his eyes, and she saw the beast.

But what exactly could she do? She didn’t know how or when he was going to make all of his horcruxes, nor did she know who he would turn up to be, apart from the name he would at some point take, so was it entirely wrong to have talked to him?

At the moment she considered that it was, but perhaps when the days blurred into weeks she would forget about her own judgement of him, as it had happened before.

A soft knock called on the door, followed by Adelaine’s concerned voice.

“Arabella, are you alright? You’ve been there for a while now.”

“I’m fine, just one second.” she called out.

Getting up from her seating position, she saw herself in the mirror.

She hadn’t realized she had been crying, but her eyes were puffy and the reminders of the mascara she had applied in the morning were drawing soft lines down her cheeks.

She walked towards the sink and opened up the cold water, putting both of her hands under it and cupping the water, before pulling her face closer.

The cold felt nice against her skin.

She tried to wash the mascara off, and when most of it had disappeared, she closed off the tap and grabbed the nearest towel, drying her face.

She then left the room.

Adelaine wasn’t by herself anymore, as Veronica had arrived as well.

“Do you two want to go grab dinner?” Adelaine suggested

“I’m not too hungry, so I think I’ll stay here, but you two go ahead.” Arabella responded, making her way towards her bed.

Her two roommates exchanged a glance, and Veronica made her way towards her shortly after.

Arabella didn’t notice how Adelaine had quickly slipped out from their room.

Veronica sat down next to her, careful as to not wrinkle her skirt.

“Sweetie, I just talked to Laurence and he said you looked a little off, and when I came in here Adelaine had noticed too. You know we’re here for you if you want to talk, alright?”

The girl said, as she pushed a strand of her behind her ear.

“I know, thanks. But I’m fine, really. It’s just, I went to do the potions project with Riddle but he’s a major class asshole.”

The door opened then, and Adelaine made her way towards her two friends.

“William is going to bring us something for dinner.” she informed them as she sat down.

“I’m not hungry” Arabella responded

“Well, I am, and regardless, one should never go to bed on an empty stomach.”

A soft giggle escaped Veronica’s lips then

“What is it?” Adelaine asked

“Nothing really, it’s just that my grandma used to say that all the time.”

Eventually, Adelaine found out too that something had happened between her friend and Riddle, but none of them pressed further. Instead, they talked about the Christmas holidays, the upcoming ball, because the future always seemed simpler than the present and the Hogsmeade trip a week away.

They daydreamt about the decorations that the manor would have, the people that would attend and how fun it would be. They daydreamt about how they could do so many great plans, without school work and professors tying them down.

They even talked about their futures outside of Hogwarts, once William came back with food for them.

Adelaine told them that she dreamt of being a healer, a ham sandwich currently in hand.

Veronica didn’t want to work, but considering her family’s wealth, it isn’t like she needed to. She apparently dreamt of buying magical artefacts to collect and expand her family’s collection, and perhaps owning a few abraxan horses and taking care of them and spending the rest of her days living her Dionysian fantasies. 

Arabella told them that she supposed she would work somewhere in the Ministry of Magic, but when she was asked if that was what she thought was expected of her or what she actually wanted, she didn’t know what to respond. So instead, she bit into her sandwich, to give herself an excuse not to.

And because it had been a while since they all spent time together, just the three of them in their room with nothing else to bother them, they stayed there after they had finished eating.

They painted their nails then, and helped each other when they had to paint their right hand, and then used a quick drying spell on them. Adelaine’s nails were now red, Arabella’s were lilac and Veronica’s were white.


	11. Chapter 11

“Vero, are you going to take much longer?” Adelaine called out from their room, where she and Arabella were waiting for their friend to finish getting ready.

“Just one second!” Veronica answered back, opening the door a few seconds after. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time, before turning around and exiting their room.

“Shall we?” Arabella asked the two girls.

Instead of responding, Adelaine led the way, opening the door for them and closing it after.

“Merlin, I really do not want to go to Herbology.” Veronica groaned, as they walked towards the Great Hall.

“Must be rough. Personally, I don’t have any classes until ten.” Adelaine informed them.

“It’s worse than rough. I have been paired up with Isabella Trelawney for a project”

“Good luck with that.” Arabella told her. Isabella was one of Hogwarts most popular students. She was the Ravenclaw princess of sorts, and was a nightmare to anyone she didn’t personally approve of.

She had never had any particularly bad encounters with her, as they had barely talked in the seven years they had attended the school, but she had still heard a fair chance of stories about her.

Student gossip was never a reliable source of information, of course, as plenty of stories had been made up of her and her friends, but it was still fun to hear.

As they entered the Great Hall, she worried about seeing Riddle.

It was a curious thing, they were still practically strangers yet he had been the highlight of her first months of the school year, even if it wasn’t for good reasons. Just in some of their brief encounters, Tom had practically admitted to murder, they’d discussed immortality and he had found out some of the darker parts of her past.

It was not exactly the way people used to get to know each other, but she had given up on trying to have a normal life a long time ago.

She left a sigh of relief leaving her lips once she realized he wasn’t in the room, as she took a seat between her roommates. In front of them were Abraxas and William.

Laurence, James and Victor were also missing.

“Good morning ladies.” William greeted, as he took Adelaine’s hand, before planting a soft kiss on her knuckles.

Arabella then grabbed a piece of toast and helped herself to a cup of coffee. She liked it black.

The cup was warm against her hands, a feeling she welcomed. As she raised the cup towards her lips, Abraxas focused her attention on her.

“You girls didn’t come down yesterday for dinner.”

“We had a girl’s night.” she responded.

He raised a brow then, curious.

“And how come I wasn’t invited?”

“Perhaps the invitation got lost in the way.” Adelaine said, jokingly.

“I surely hope that’s the reason.” he answered, in the same manner.

Once she had finished her breakfast, she started rising from her seat, but was stopped by Abraxas.

“Arabella, accompany me for a walk?”

“Sure.” she said.

She stayed in her seat as she waited for him to finish eating his fruit, and once he was finished, they both got up.

Because they had known each other for a long time, the silence between them was comfortable, so neither of them tried to fill it with small talk.

She followed him to the courtyard, but immediately after their arrival they saw Laurence and Tom, who were deep in conversation, as Laurence scribbled something in parchment paper. Because of this, they didn’t notice them at first.

Abraxas didn’t seem too excited to see them, much like Arabella, which she was thankful for.

They paced silently for a while, until a fifth year walked towards them. He was a Slytherin prefect.

“Arabella, Abraxas.” he greeted them.

The two boys stopped working them, their heads looking up to the two friends.

“Nott, what may I do for you?” the head girl asked.

“Orion Black transfigured a first year Hufflepuff into a rat. Dippet asked me to tell you that you will need to supervise the detention.”

Abraxas let out a laugh before he could control himself, earning him a slight elbowing in the ribs from Arabella.

“That’s alright. When is he serving detention?”

“Tonight. It’s up to you to decide the punishment though, I believe.”

She nodded at the boy. “Thank you.”

The boy then went away shortly after.

“You have to admit, what Orion did is pretty funny.” Abraxas told her with a smile on his face.

“It isn’t! Imagine how terrified that little kid must have been.” she answered.

As they talked and walked around the courtyard, she noticed how Riddle hadn’t taken his eyes off her, but she never gave him the satisfaction of meeting his gaze.

“Abraxas.” she called out then.

“Yes?”

“I want to talk to you about something. About Riddle.”

“Alright, but let’s go somewhere a bit more private.” the boy responded as he looked past her friend’s shoulder. He had noticed how Tom had been looking in their direction.

They headed towards the Clock Tower then, as it was the one that was usually the emptiest.

Walking up the stairs and reaching the top floor, they sat in a window ledge from where they could still see the courtyard.

“Look.” Arabella said, pointing to something happening in the ground.

When Abraxas looked, he noticed how Victor, William and James had joined the two boys, the four of them now sitting in a circle, still engrossed in whatever the parchment paper contained.

“What did you want to talk about?” the boy asked her then.

“Yesterday I met Tom to do the potions project and I don’t know how the topic came around but he offered the possibility of joining him, in a way. He said that he could give me glory, or revenge on Grindelwald.”

“Wait, how does he know about Grindelwald? I thought only the people that attended the funeral knew about what happened.”

“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

The boy in front of her frowned slightly. “Do you think I told him?”

She tilted her head quizzically.

“What? Of course not. But it did get me thinking about who could have.”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? Victor must have.” the blonde boy answered sternly.

“I just don’t understand why Tom is interested in my life in the first place, nor do I understand why Victor would tell him.”

“I do not understand why Victor has joined him, but I suppose that Tom needed a way to test his loyalty towards him, and that’s why he told him. As for why he’s interested in your life, I’m not too sure, although I’d be careful, if I were you.”

“Why?”

“Because Riddle always seems to get what he wants.”

He was silent for a few seconds, before he spoke up again.

“Tell me, what did you tell him, when he offered joining him?”

“I told him I wouldn’t work with him, and then he tried reading my mind. He found out about the curse.”

Abraxas’ jaw involuntarily clenched.

“Perhaps he was curious about why you fainted all of the sudden in the Astronomy tower, but now that he knows the entire story I assume he’ll leave you alone and move onto something else.”

Arabella nodded, thoughtful, and slightly guilty.

“I don’t understand why Victor has joined him.”

“Honestly? Neither do I. I’ve been thinking about it, day and night, and there is not a single thing I can think of that Riddle could offer him in return.”

Arabella then raised her legs and placed them on the window ledge, hugging her legs with her arms.

“I’m worried, Abraxas. I don’t want to lose him.”

The boy then moved his hand onto her shoulder, drawing soft circles over her clothes.

“Do you really think that low of Riddle?”

“I do.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t think we’re going to lose him. Even if I don’t understand why Victor would join him, I still hope that he’s smart enough to get out if things start to get ugly.”

“But what if to prove his loyalty or something like that he has to do something terrible? Can we forgive bad things people have done because we love them or because they’ve also done some good things?” the girl asked.

Abraxas didn’t know what to answer, so he stayed in silence. A few seconds went by, and then he answered.

“I think that there’s bad people and people who’ve done bad things. Riddle, for example, I think he’s a bad person, but Victor is a good person, I think. And people who are good but have done bad things can redeem themselves, can’t they?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Regardless, Victor is like my brother. I can’t imagine a world where him and I aren’t friends.”

Her mind then drifted to Tom. He had done bad things, but he had also done some good ones. For example, in their fifth year, he helped by getting the beast that had been terrorising the school get caught.

But, did he? Her mind suddenly seemed to go a thousand miles per minute.

She knew that throughout his life he would make eight horcruxes, and that he had made at least one. Had he killed Myrtle himself, making her his first horcrux?

She looked through the window.

Riddle was still there, but he was now alone.

She got up from her seat then, adjusting her robes quickly as she did so.

“Where are you going?” Abraxas called out.

“I’ll tell you some other time.” she said as she made her way to the exit. She walked down the stairs, two steps at a time, wanting to get to Riddle before he would leave.

Opening the door to the tower and walking into the courtyard, she was pleased to see that he hadn’t moved yet.

Abraxas watched from the tower how she walked in his direction, determined. He could see them speaking, but he was naturally too far away to actually hear what they were saying.

She got him to stand up, and grabbed him by the arm, leading him away.

He couldn’t see them after that.

Walking across the hallways with Riddle being dragged away by an angry looking Arabella was a rare sight that earned them some curious looks from fellow students and some professors alike.

Without almost realizing it, she ended up dragging him onto the seventh floor, when a door appeared out of thin air before them.

He walked in first, and she followed immediately after.

After closing the door, she quickly cast a silencing charm on the door.

“Well, Selwyn, what did you want? I was quite occupied when you interrupted me.”

“You killed Warren.” she said, getting straight to the point.

He didn’t seem fazed by the comment, deciding instead to pace around the room she had created.

It was almost completely empty, the only thing there being a mirror that covered the wall next to the door.

“What draws you to that conclusion?” he asked.

“I think that you killed her to make your first horcrux, and then you blamed it on somebody else to avoid getting caught and also to improve your reputation. You got an award, didn’t you? For special services to the school.”

He turned to face her.

“Very perceptive, Selwyn. Tell me, what are you going to do now? Nobody will believe you if you tell them.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re sick, absolutely repulsive, but I must know, why not kill two students instead of just one? If at the end of the day you knew you wouldn’t get caught.”

“I couldn’t. They were going to close the school, I needed to stop it before they did.”

Arabella’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Why would you care if they closed it?”

“I couldn’t let them. Hogwarts is my home.”

She didn’t know what to say then. When she looked at his face, she was able to finally see it. They didn’t have the same face, Tom and the monster by the face of Voldemort that he would one day become, but they shared the same expression that lacked humanity and was devoid of any emotion at all.

“Why do you care about a mudblood’s death, Selwyn?”

“It’s not about her, in particular. It’s about the fact that you think of yourself to be good enough to play God with somebody’s life. I don’t understand why you would think of yourself to be better than yourself and decide who gets to live and who gets to die.”

“I am better than everyone here, more intelligent and one day, more powerful. It was a necessary step in the plan. The only reason you care about life is because your mother is dead. You’re blinded by the love you feel for her.”

She shook her head in disbelief at his words, and darted towards the door almost instantly.

As she opened it, he called out from where he was still standing. “Where are you going?”

She looked back at him once more “I don’t know, but away from you.” She closed the door after her, walking away as fast as her feet would allow her.

er feet would allow her.


	12. Chapter 12

She arrived at the next class just as professor Bins was about to walk in. The middle aged man looked at the girl with furrowed brows, as she quickly slipped into the classroom right before him.

She didn’t pay him any mind, and instead, went to look for a seat.

Tom wasn’t there, which was rare, as he always took his classes very seriously, but it was still something she was thankful for.

She walked towards the end of the classroom, where she sat next to Abraxas in the last row, right by a floor to ceiling window that served as a great distraction from Bins’ monotone voice.

As she was taking out her book, she heard the door opening once again.

“I’m sorry professor, I got caught up with something, may I come in?” called Riddle.

“Yes, you may Mr.Riddle, but make sure this won’t happen again. I will not tolerate tardiness in my classroom.”

“Of course not professor.” the teenage boy answered as he swiftly took a seat by the front next to Avery. Almost right after sitting down, he turned around to look slightly over his shoulders, where he found Arabella throwing daggers at him, although Abraxas’ expression wasn’t all that friendly, either.

He turned around as the professor started speaking.

“Today we will be learning about the Gargoyle strike. Who in here can tell me what a wildcat strike is?” the professor asked.

Arabella immediately saw Tom’s hand rising in the air, but before the professor allowed him to speak, she took it upon herself to answer.

“A wildcat strike is the stopping of work by a group of unionised workers without authorisation from the union.” She felt Tom’s gaze on her, but she didn’t look at him as she kept her eyes on the professor.

“Very well, Miss Selwyn. And when did the strike happen?”

“19-“ Tom began to answer.

“1911.” she answered.

“That’s correct. Ten points to Slytherin.”

The professor then proceeded to explain the events, but Arabella didn’t pay him much more thought.

Leaning back into her chair, she found Abraxas smirking at her, while he balanced himself on the back legs of the chair.

“What?”

“I just find it funny, how you always get under his skin.”

“I must say, I try my best.” she assured him with a smile.

“I like it. Someone has to knock his ego down at least a bit.”

“Mister Malfoy and Miss Selwyn, if your conversation is as funny as it seems like it is, why don’t you share it with the rest of the classroom so we can all laugh?” the professor called then, both teenagers looking at each other with widened eyes.

Abraxas then faced the professor, and plastered a charming smile on his face. “I’m truly sorry about the interruption professor, please carry on.”

The professor then looked at them one last time, probably weighing his options, before he continued his lecture like nothing had happened.

The two stayed in silence for the rest of the hour after that.

Apart from shared stares at each other, Arabella and Tom spent the rest of the day without talking to each other.

At seven, after dinner and finishing the homework professor Merrythought had assigned them, she headed to meet Orion, who was waiting for her outside the Great Hall.

Without talking much, she guided the boy onto an empty classroom in the first floor.

She took a seat on top of the teacher’s desk, while Orion simply stood in the middle of the room, unsure of what he would need to do.

“Sit down and take out some parchment.” she instructed the boy, who followed her commands without complaints.

“You will write “I mustn’t transfigure students into animals” a hundred times.” she told him, fighting off a smile that threatened to form on her face due to how ridiculous it all sounded.

“Selwyn, come on! A hundred lines? I’m going to be late to Quidditch training.” the boy groaned.

“I don’t care.” she simply responded.

She heard him huff, but he didn’t say anything more.

Getting up from her previous position and sitting down on the chair, which was much comfier than the ones the students used, she placed her things onto the table.

“I don’t have ink.” Orion called out.

She then rummaged through her bag, taking out a small bottle with black ink, before getting up from her seat and handing it out to him.

“What were you thinking, Orion?” she asked him, when she was still by her desk.

“I wasn’t thinking much, to be fair.” the boy responded. She could tell that he didn’t feel any guilt from the incident, from the smirk that had formed on his face at the memory of the events.

“I must say though, transfiguring living beings is a rather hard task, so I have to admit that I’m quite impressed.”

The boy laughed at the Head girl’s words.

“Still, don’t do that again. Not only was your behaviour barbaric, even if the magic itself was impressive, it was also extremely dangerous! Merlin knows what could have happened to the poor boy if the spell had failed!” she reprimanded him as she walked back towards her desk.

“He’s just a mudblood. What are you, a blood traitor in disguise?”

“I’m not. I just think that treating people with respect is the first basis of human decency, even if they are of lower status than you.” the boy looked up to her curiously.

“You’ve disrespected Riddle plenty of times.” he pointed out.

She felt her jaw clenching.

“We are not here to discuss my relationships, Orion, so get on with your lines.” she responded.

She took her Study of ancient runes textbook, some parchment paper and a self-inking quill, ready to begin studying.

However, before she could start writing, Orion spoke up again, already bored after writing three lines.

“I heard you might be marrying Kaiser.”

“Orion.” she warned him, but he ignored it.

“Have you met him yet?” he asked, as he rested his head on his hand.

“No, but he’s going to the Rosier’s ball during the holidays. I assume you were invited as well.” she answered.

“I was, yes. I’ll be bringing Walburga.”

“I hope things are going well with her.” she said, out of pure courtesy.

“They are, thank you. We might get married in June.” he informed her.

“That’s lovely, but please, Orion, get on with the lines. I want to be here as much as you do.” she told him, looking at him in the eyes.

“Well, just tell Dippet I’ve done my detention and let me go then.” he answered.

“You know I can’t let you go without something to prove that you’ve worked. Do fifty lines instead and we’ll call it a day.” she offered.

“Fine.” he ended up responding.

He started writing after that, and she quickly imitated his gesture.

She managed to summarize four chapters when she heard the sound of a chair moving.

She checked her watch then, about an hour had passed.

He got up from his seat, walking up to her desk, parchment and the bottle of ink in hand.

“Here you go, can I leave now?” he said once he left the two things down on the table.

“Good, do you have your detention slip?” she asked him.

He took it out of one of the back pockets in his pants, the paper slightly wrinkled.

After he handed it to her, she tried straighten it out, but it was to no avail.

She signed it. “You may leave now.”

The boy walked towards the table he had been sitting in then, gathering his things before he walked towards the door.

“If I’m late for training and the captain gets mad at me you better know I’m blaming it on you” he said, jokingly, yet she knew that it was something he was likely to do.

“I appreciate the honesty, Black.” she answered, as she watched him slip out of the room.

As he closed the door, silence engulfed the room.

She held her face between her palms, the cold temperature from her hands creating a big contrast against the warmth from her cheeks. She allowed herself to close her eyes for a second, as her thoughts began to drift away.

The sound of music coming from the gramophone was a distant echo in the background, the voices of the women singing almost drowned by the laughter of the two teenagers.

It was a hot summer day, where the sun seemed to shine brighter before and the sky was completely emptied out from clouds.

The Rosier family had invited some of England’s wealthiest families to spend some time in their summer house in Palermo.

It was smaller than the manor they usually lived in, but it was still a beautiful place.

The house had two floors, the outside walls covered by light coloured stone, with light blue blinds decorating the windows. It was in the middle of the countryside, in a valley in the forest. Apparently Victor’s mothers wanted to have plenty of privacy.

Part of a river crossed through their property, which was where Victor and Arabella currently were.

It was far away from the house, and barely anyone came down there. That was precisely why they had chosen it as their hang out spot.

Victor was standing up, facing the river. He had just seen a fish, but once he turned around after telling Arabella to try to show her, it had disappeared.

She was sitting down behind him, on a big flat stone, while she ate strawberry flavoured ice cream.

She was wearing a light pink summer dress, while he wore white shorts and a short-sleeved striped button up shirt.

“I swear on Salazar that it was there.” he told her, still focused on the water, trying to spot the fish again.

“I believe you, Victor.” she held him, raising her hand so that her fingers brushed against his.

He interlocked his fingers with hers, but his attention remained on the river.

She tugged at his arm slightly, and he turned around to face her, as he drew soft circles with his thumb against the back of her hand.

He smiled at her, softly, and she smiled back at him.

He sat besides her, the stone big enough for both of them, and watched as she ate her ice cream.

“Can I have some?” he asked her.

Instead of answering, she moved the cone towards him. He took a bite.

“You can have it, it’s given me brain freeze.” she told him.

He grabbed the cone from her with the hand that wasn’t holding hers.

They stayed in silence for a while, as he finished it.

As he turned to look at her, she noticed a small spot of ice cream left on his lower lip.

She looked through her pockets, pulling out a white handkerchief with her initials sewed onto it, softly brushing his lower lip with the soft fabric of the tissue. His eyes met hers as she did so.

She placed it back onto her pocket. He was still looking at her, adoringly. He always looked at her like people looked at their favourite paintings, and she was unable to meet his gaze, looking instead at their hands that rested on her lap.

He brought his free hand up, and softly held her chin making her look up so that his eyes met hers. He then placed a strand of hair behind her ear, as he moved closer towards her.

Their noses almost touched, and she allowed herself to close her eyes. He did the same thing.

She felt his lips on hers, soft and gentle, as he always was.

She had kissed him before, but it was never enough. Every single time she felt the same content feeling forming in her chest.

He tasted slightly of strawberry.

She kissed him back, as she brought a hand up, holding his face.

They stopped holding hands as their kisses became slightly less sweet and slightly more demanding.

He placed his hands on her hips, and she ran her other hand through his hair.

She pulled away slightly, just for a second, to look at him.

He took the opportunity to speak “Come here” he said, guiding her onto his lap.

She smiled at him, as she lowered her face to kiss him once more.

She had been the one to break up with him, but at times, she wished things were different. She wished that she hadn't felt the way she had, like there was something lacking.

Perhaps if they were still together he wouldn’t have joined Tom.

She dismissed the thought quickly. Thinking about what could have been wouldn’t do her any good.

She began putting her things away then, and then got up from her seat as she fixed her skirt.

She then placed her bag over her shoulder, and headed towards the door, but as her hand gripped the handle, she was suddenly taken away from reality.

Toujous Pur.

She saw an enraged woman, pacing around the room, throwing things across the room as tears swelled in her eyes.

It was Walburga, but she looked older.

She then pointed her wand at the wall, and the face of a boy was burned from the tapestry, leaving behind only the name.

The brightest star who will run to his best friend’s protection, leaving behind a trail of rage in those he shares his last name with, igniting again when the second one starts.

Her vision went black for a few seconds, her hand gripping the handle tighter. As her vision went back to normal, a feeling of light-headedness filled her senses, making her feel like she would faint at any given moment.

She had gone through the same thing quite a few times, and it was a relatively common symptom, so she didn’t pay it much thought. Opening up the door, she began thinking about what she had just seen, and she found herself frowning involuntarily.

It was normal to have prophecies about people one didn’t actually know or about mere acquaintances, and while she hadn’t thought much about it in the past, but at the moment it felt almost like a waste of energy, that could have been wasted on someone much more interesting, like Tom, perhaps.

She mentally cursed herself as the thought crossed her head. It appeared that Tom had somehow become part of her routine, as whether he was there or not he still filled her thoughts.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to everyone who might be reading this! I wasn't too sure whether to post this today or tomorrow, but decided to post it today as sort of a birthday celebration for our favorite young villain, as today it's Tom's birthday. Also, I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year filled with good health and blessings! Lots of love, everyone <3

As she reached the common room the door opened in front of her, before she had time to mutter the password, as Victor was exiting the room.

She realized something was most likely wrong when he didn’t make eye contact with her, simply nodding his head as an acknowledgement.

Her hand moved before she could control what she was doing, grabbing him by the arm.

He looked up at her then, his expression filled with mixed emotions she couldn’t quite place.

“Victor, are you alright?” she silently said, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention on themselves.

She looked at him worriedly, as she had known him for long enough to know that there was something on his mind even if he hadn’t said anything.

He was in silence for a few seconds, conflicted, but he eventually answered. “Yeah, I’m fine I just… I really need to get going. I’ll see you around, okay?” he said, as he pulled her in for a quick side hug.

“Okay.” she answered. He nodded, almost more to himself than to her, before turning around and disappearing through the corridors.

Adelaine and Veronica were both in their shared bedroom when she entered it. Walking towards her bed, she noticed a box and a letter sitting on top of it.

“That arrived while you were supervising the detention.” Veronica informed her.

She sat down on her bed and opened the letter.

Dear Arabella,

I bought this for you so you can wear it on the upcoming ball, and I wanted to send it to you to see if it fits you correctly. If there are any problems with the sizing I can send it to the dressmaker to fix it before the ball.

I asked a co-worker of mine, and she said girls your age really like these types of dresses. Hopefully both you and Alexander like it.

Don’t worry too much about the ball at the moment and focus on your classes instead, I will tell you whatever you need to know when the time comes.

I also wanted to inform you that because you are now of age and you are to be married soon (hopefully) I’ve decided not to hire a tutor for the summer, and I’ll allow you to invite some of those friends of yours over if you’d like.

Take care, Albert.

The hint of worry of a marriage that seemed to be more and more unavoidable as time approached was temporarily overshadowed by the happiness of being able to fully enjoy her summer, unlike the past one.

“So, what does it say?” Adelaine said as she dropped besides her in her bed. She hadn’t heard her get up from hers.

“He’s sending me a dress for the ball, but what’s most exciting is that perhaps this summer I'll be able to invite you guys over.”

Looking up, she saw Veronica’s face lighting up.

“That’s amazing! My parents were talking about visiting some distant family we have in Denmark and I was absolutely dreading it, so I’d much rather spend the summer at your place.”

As she spoke, she got up to sit with her other two roommates.

“Are we not going to bother if we're there for the entirety of the summer?” Adelaine asked.

“Bother? Not at all. As we will all be graduating this year I want to be able to spend as much time as I can with you guys.” Arabella answered, as she put down the letter.

She then grabbed the box, carefully removing the red ribbon that was decorating it.

She removed the cover and pulled out the dress.

It was emerald green and made of velvet, off the shoulder, and it appeared to be long enough so that it would reach the ground, not allowing her heels to show. She wouldn’t be quite sure until she tried it on, though.

She was ready to put it back on the box, when Adelaine spoke.

“Are you not going to try it on?”

Still holding the fabric in her hands, she answered. “Right now?”

“Why not? I want to see how it looks on you.” Veronica answered, sharing the same opinion as Adelaine.

“Alright.” Arabella then answered, as she headed towards the bathroom.

Once she slipped it on, she noticed she wouldn’t be quite able to reach the zipper by herself, so holding the fabric in place with her arm, she stepped into the room.

“Can you zip it up please?” she asked, not to one of them in particular.

As Veronica got up from the bed she turned around. She then felt Veronica’s hands moving her hair, so that it wouldn’t get caught, and shortly after the sound of the zipper getting pulled.

“All done” the girl said as she stepped away.

“So, how do I look?” Arabella said as she turned around.

“Like a million bucks.” Adelaine responded.

“You look fantastic.” Veronica assured her.

“Thanks.” she quickly responded, before making her way towards the bathroom to change once again.

When she was dressed, she joined them once again as she sat down on her bed.

“Are you still going to accompany us to look for dresses when we go to Hogsmade, even if you’ve already got yours?” Veronica asked her.

“Sure.” she answered.

\---

The next morning, they had potions as their first subject. Walking alongside Victor and Laurence, she wondered if perhaps staying in bed would have been the better option.

Of course her own sense of responsibility as well as the example she had to set as Head Girl wouldn’t allow her to, but the freezing cold weather and the fact that she would have to face Tom after their encounter from the day before were trying to convince her that she could still go back and hide under the covers.

As they walked into the classroom, Arabella noticed that Tom was already there.

Taking a deep breath, she joined him in their shared table. At the moment she couldn’t wait for the two months to be over.

“Selwyn.” he greeted curtly as she dropped her bag on the table.

“Riddle.” she answered as she took her potions textbook out.

She kept her gaze on the front of the classroom, even when she noticed how Tom was currently sending glances at her.

Slughorn entered the room in that very moment, as Tom moved slightly closer to her.

As the professor prepared some things before beginning the class, Tom took the opportunity to speak. “Are you planning on not looking in my direction for the entirety of the hour?” he whispered.

“That’s what I was thinking, yes.” she answered in the same quiet tone.

He rolled her eyes at her words, but because her gaze was still fixated on the front of the classroom she didn’t notice it.

“Your behaviour is quite childish, considering that we are still going to be forced to interact with each other.”

Only then did she turn to look at him, raising an eyebrow as she muttered “Fuck off.”

The class went by fairly quickly after that, and as she packed her things to get to the next one, charms, Tom spoke up once again. “I’ll see you by the staircase on the seventh floor to continue working on the project.”

She stayed in silence for a moment, biding her options, before finally answering “fine.”

Picking up her bag and making her exit, she didn’t look up to him again. Tom didn’t look at her leaving, either, instead being Victor who stared at his childhood friend leaving.

\---

A few minutes past six she arrived where she was supposed to meet Riddle, who had an annoyed expression on his face.

“You’re late.” he told her, almost as a greeting, as he started walking.

She followed after him “I’m sorry.” she said, although her tone showed the insincerity of her words.

He couldn’t hide his annoyance at her attitude, but he stayed in silence until they arrived at the room he knew as the room of requirement.

As soon as the door appeared, Arabella took it upon herself to open it and step inside.

It looked the same way it had the previous time.

He stepped inside after her and closed the door.

Without talking, he placed the cauldron on the table.

She grabbed a knife and then looked for the crocodile heart, taking it out of the bottle that contained it.

Trying to hide her face of disgust, she began working.

She didn’t notice how Tom had made his way over to her.

“You’re doing it wrong.” he said in a quiet voice from behind her.

She scoffed loud enough for him to hear.

He didn’t comment on it though, as he was trying to be patient, taking the knife from her hand instead.

“You need to separate the four chambers, but if you cut it that way you only risk crushing the arteries.” he explained as he cut it.

Watching him work, she knew he was probably right, as the way he was doing it seemed to be also much easier, but she refused to praise him.

“Okay.” was the only thing she answered.

“Are you sure you’re capable of doing it by yourself?” he asked her. It had a slightly patronizing tone.

“Yes, mister perfect, I’m perfectly capable.” she responded.

Both of them were equally irritated at the other.

But, apart from incidents of the sort, nothing bigger happened that afternoon, as they spent it mostly working in silence.

\---

After frantically counting the days until it was time for their Hogsmade trip, it was finally here.

All of the students were driven by the excitement from having a day free from their day to day responsibilities, as they exited the castle dressed in long coats, scarves and wool hats.

After leading the way to the town for some of the third years that were going for the first time, she met Veronica and Adelaine right by the entrance of a small shop.

They walked past Gladrags wizardwear, and turned around the corner to go to a much quieter street, where Rosmertra’s gowns and robes was located.

As they opened the door, the soft sound of a bell greeted them, and almost immediately after, the shopkeeper came to greet them.

Rosmertra, the old shopkeeper, who was usually severe and wore her hair in a tight bun, had a smile on her face at the sight of the teenagers.

Whether it was because she was actually happy about seeing them or because every time they stepped in they ended up spending over a hundred galleons, they didn’t know.

“Oh, girls, it was such a long time without seeing you!” the woman called out, softly kissing all of them on the cheek as a greeting.

“What are you looking for, exactly?” the woman asked them.

“We are looking for formal dresses.” Adelaine answered.

“Oh, is that so? Is there a private ball happening any time soon? Two gentlemen just came in looking for tuxedos.” the shopkeeper asked, as she led them towards a clothing rack.

“The Rosier’s are hosting one at the end of the month, yes.” Veronica explained.

Knowing their taste in fashion from previous occasions where they had visited the shop, the lady picked up some dresses for them and handed it to them.

She handed a few to Arabella, one black, one red and a light blue one, but she quickly spoke up “Oh, no, thanks. I’ve already got a dress ready.”

“At least try them on. They’re all very beautiful.” the woman explained.

She tried to look for her friends, but they were nowhere to be seen, as they had already headed to the changing rooms to try them on.

“Alright.” she ended up responding.

She headed to the only empty changing room left, and tried on the black one first. It was a sheath dress with a Queen Anne neckline, made of charmeuse.

It was definitely beautiful, but when she looked at herself in the mirror, she almost felt like she was trying on a costume.

So, she took it off, and put the blue one on. It was a very light colour that almost looked grey. It was made of chiffon, and it had an a-line silhouette.

She liked this one even less than the other one.

Mentally cursing herself for trying them on even though she didn’t need a dress, as her father had already sent her one, she picked up the red one.

She begrudgingly put it on, but couldn’t hide her face of surprise when she actually liked it.

It was made of satin, the colour of fresh blood, and it had a v neck line. It was tight on her, following the curves of her body, yet it became slightly looser at the waist. It also had a slit around the top of her thigh that allowed her to show off her legs.

She opened the curtain to the changing room, as she wanted to show it to her friends.

Still, the shopkeeper saw her, and she called her over.

She made her way over to her, and the shopkeeper made her turn around so she could see it from all angles.

“That dress was made for you, dear.” she complimented her.

Just as she was about to thank her, the sound of some familiar footsteps interrupted their conversation.

“I was wondering if it’d be possible-“ Tom’s voice said, yet it quickly died down once he realized the presence of his classmate.


	14. Chapter 14

“Selwyn.” he greeted.

“Riddle.” she answered back.

The shopkeeper watched them with curious eyes. Some say she had always been one for gossip.

His eyes were trailed on her body, and she reciprocated the gesture.

He was wearing an all-black tuxedo that fitted him like a globe, and her eyes trailed along every single centimetre of his figure, even if she tried to fight herself off.

“What did you mean to say?” the shopkeeper asked him.

“I wondered if it’d be possible to try a bow tie on. I wonder whether it would look better than the tie.” he asked her.

The woman then walked towards a cabinet, pulling a black bow tie out and handing it to him. He then walked towards the changing room he had appeared out of, as the woman came closer to her.

“Do you know the boy?” she asked.

“I do. He’s a classmate of mine.” she answered.

Then, the shopkeeper got closer, to whisper in her ear.

“I was almost surprised when he came into the shop. I had never seen the boy before, and with how his shoes look… because you know how much shoes tell us about the people that wear them… I didn’t think he would be able to afford any of it! But he came with the Lestrange heir. I think he must have tried on five different tuxedos at least.” the woman explained.

Arabella then tried to remember about the clothes Tom had worn in the past. Truthfully, she had never paid a lot of attention to his clothes, but it was something her father as well as other pureblood families focused a lot on.

From the choices of fashion itself, always ones to wear animal prints and different leathers that people would try to guess if they were faux or not, or the jewels, where they would try to guess its authenticity, as well as the shoes, from the brand to the state of the shoes, if they were creased, dirty or perfectly polished, as it often said a lot about a person’s personality or wealth, and it helped spot out pretenders.

As she had known Tom since her first year, she already knew he wasn’t particularly wealthy. He carried himself with an air of aristocracy that would make anyone who was just meeting him unable to guess he didn’t belong to England’s top one percent, but the years had allowed her to see the small variety of clothes and suits he owned and wore as well as how most of his books were second-hand.

It was still curious though, how even though he had crafted a perfect image for himself, the simple curiosity of a nosy woman was intelligent enough to bring down his façade.

Truth was, Tom’s brilliance resided on how cunning and manipulative he was, and not because he was actually particularly intelligent, or so did Arabella think.

Under her own consideration, Tom’s plans were sometimes flawed, as his vision of things was often tainted by his own ego that made it impossible for himself to tell the mistakes that he might make due to the belief that he was above making any mistakes at all.

Situations like Myrtle’s death were a perfect reflection of Tom’s flaws, like him trying to execute murder yet not polishing his plan enough and that causing a beast to roam the school and threatening to close it, when that was something he wasn’t pursuing.

Still, he was able to persuade anybody he encountered onto believing that he was the perfect student, and that it was somebody else who had released the beast.

But would his manipulation skills be enough to serve him forever, or would his ego be the reason for his downfall, when it made him forget about the smaller details of his plans?

She then went back to the changing rooms, to show the dress to her friends like she had intended to in the first place.

“You need to buy it.” Veronica told her just as her eyes landed on her.

“I’ve already got a dress for the ball, though.” Arabella responded.

“There’s a graduation ball at the end of the school year that you could wear it for.” Veronica said, making Arabella stay in silence for a few seconds.

“And even if there wasn’t, one can’t simply have too many dresses.” Adelaine concluded, finally convincing her into buying the dress.

Then, the other girls showed each other what dresses they wanted to buy.

“I am always so jealous about how good green looks on you” Arabella told Adelaine.

“If you don’t buy this dress I will.” Adelaine had told Veronica.

Veronica had been the one with the most trouble choosing, with two dresses that she really liked. In the end, she ended up buying both of them.

As they paid and exited the shop, they noticed Tom and Laurence, who were waiting by the entrance of the store.

“Took you long enough.” Laurence greeted.

“We didn’t know you were waiting for us.” Adelaine answered.

From the corner of her eye, Arabella could see the smile that Veronica was trying to suppress a smile as Laurence looked at her.

He then offered his arm for her to grab, and the two led the way.

“They’re rather adorable, aren’t they?” Adelaine asked her.

Tom was following behind, as with the current tension between him and Arabella he didn’t think it would be wise for him to approach her.

They walked towards Hog’s Head Inn, where some of the boys were supposed to be waiting for them.

Before they could even approach the door, the boys had already seen them from the inside, and William came over to greet them.

He first approached his girlfriend, intertwining his fingers with hers and placing a soft kiss on her temple, before opening the door of the pub for the group.

Arabella found herself sitting between Abraxas, who had taken a seat beside Victor, and James, with Tom almost directly across from hers.

“Nine butterbeers, please.” Laurence called out once the waitress approached their table.

“I don’t drink.” she reminded him.

“Oh well, then I guess I’ll have two beers instead of one.” he concluded.

“I thought you didn’t drink.” she said as she looked at Riddle, noticing that he hadn’t said anything after Laurence ordered the drinks.

“I don’t, but I’m sure at least one of them will drink it without an issue.” he simply responded.

As they spoke, William was pointing at the bag that Adelaine had dropped beside her chair. “Will you let me see it?”

“Absolutely not, it needs to be a surprise for when the ball comes.” she answered as a smile tugged at her lips.

“So, Victor, do we know who’s been invited to the ball?” Veronica asked.

At that moment the waitress appeared with the butterbeers, so he stayed in silence until she left.

“From the Black family there’s Orion, Arcturus and Melania. Orion’s bringing Walburga, of course, then there’s the Nott family, I’m sure at least Cantankerus is attending. Archer Evermonde, Lorcan McLaird, Hector Fawley, Leonard Spencer-Moon and Wilhemina Tuft have also confirmed that they will be attending and I imagine that the Flint, Carrow and Yaxley families might come as well. Lastly there’s some wizarding families from other countries like some of my family from France or the Kaiser family, from Germany.”

As he said the last sentence, his eyes lingered on Arabella.

“And then there’s you guys, of course.” he added afterwards.

“It seems like it will be interesting.” Veronica said as she grabbed her butterbeer, before taking a sip.

“That’s one way of putting it.” Abraxas said, laughing.

“I hope you all know how to waltz, because you will be doing nothing else for the night.” Victor warned them.

“Mate, we’ve all attended more balls than we can count. If we don’t know how to waltz by now we wouldn’t have a problem of what to do turning the evening but instead a problem regarding our stupidity.” James said jokingly.

“I must say, I’m quite excited to meet Kaiser, what do you make of him, Ara? Some say he’s dead from the neck up.” Laurence said.

“We met when I was seven, I think, but I do not know enough about him to judge his character.” she politely responded.

Nobody pressed further, yet she didn’t miss the way Tom rolled her eyes at her words.

James was the one to drink the beer that would have belonged to Tom and quickly the numbers of beers on the table escalated from nine to twenty three. A few empty shot glasses that had previously contained firewhisky also littered the table.

“I told you I’m fine, Arabella, I know how to handle my alcohol.” Victor said as he braced himself onto the table. He had drunk three of the shots and they were clearly more than he could handle.

“I’m sure you do.” Arabella said as she put his arm over her shoulders, guiding him out of the establishment.

Adelaine had William in a similar gesture, as he was the one to have drunk the rest of the shots as well as half of Adelaine’s second butterbeer.

Tom was also helping Laurence walk, which was fairly surprising to Arabella considering that he was rarely affectionate towards his so called friends, but she supposed he had to have at least one redeeming quality for them to want to be around him.

Laurence hadn’t drank any more than Veronica, James or Abraxas, but it seemed like he could tolerate a lot less alcohol than they did. Not that he’d accept anyone calling him a light weight, though.

“Can we go a little faster? I really need to use the toilet.” Veronica complained.

“Couldn’t you use the one in the Inn?” Abraxas responded.

She scrunched up her nose, disgusted at the thought. “Did you see what that place looked like? I would have caught all types of contagious muggle diseases.”

As they walked, Arabella noticed how Victor had rested his head on her shoulder, as he looked at her dreamily.

Arabella’s face brightened as she spoke “if you keep looking at me you’re going to end up falling down.”

“Arabella?” he asked. When she looked over at him, he was beaming at her.

“Yes?” she responded.

“You and Abraxas are my best friends, you know? I want to be friends with you guys forever, until… until we’re all very old with white hair and everything.” he said happily.

Instead of responding, she raised the arm that was closest to his body and passed her fingers through his hair.

After a fair bit of struggle, they finally reached the common room and surprisingly, they managed to do it without being seen by any of the professors.

As they reached the boy’s tower Abraxas grabbed Victor and dragged him to their shared bedroom with William, who was also being carried by Adelaine.

Arabella then buttoned her black fur coat and exited the room once again, unaware of Tom’s gaze on her, as he dragged Laurence to their room.

She had always valued other’s company and in fact, she always tried to surround herself with friends, sometimes as to not be alone with her own thoughts, but there were times like in that very moment where she welcomed the silence.

She began walking then, as she hugged herself. The wind felt like a cold blade against her skin, but she didn’t bother to take out her wand to cast a warming spell.

Walking with no direction in mind, she ended up in the courtyard.

She took a seat in one of the empty arched windows. Her hands were numb, so she began rubbing them together, as her mind began to wander.

What was more important, her own happiness or following what her father thought was best? Were both things compatible?

That was the only thing she was actually sure about, she quickly realized. Her father’s interests and hers were like parallel lines, and therefore, her own happiness and his approval were incompatible things.

A lot of the things she did weren’t things chosen by herself. She had never minded too much following his guidance, though, as they weren’t things that had bothered her too much. After all, taking arithmancy instead of divination didn’t seem like much of a problem.

At the moment though, things were much different. If her father decided that Alexander was the one for her, would she have any choice in it? Would he ask for her opinion at some point? She knew she didn’t want to marry him, she had never doubted that, but would she eventually end up doing it?

If she decided against it, and went against his father’s desires, would he forgive her? Would he love her despite her rebellion?

Her father thought that she was dying, every day taking a step closer to her grave, so if she married fast and had an heir even faster, he would have someone to inherit his wealth, to carry his name. The Selwyn line would continue, which had always been his main priority.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt someone taking a seat beside her.

There was only one person that could be sitting beside her at the moment, the smell of cologne and parchment always followed him around, but she still turned around slightly to look at him.

His hair was getting long now, as his loose dark curls almost reached his eyebrow. Once he noticed her looking at him, he looked at her back.

He was studying her, like a lion looking at its prey. What could he possibly want from her? She had previously thought that he would have wanted her for perhaps information or connections, but she hadn’t given him enough for him to still be pursuing that.

After all, he had the boys that attended his meetings. All of them came from noble families, and they could share as much as she did.

She also knew things about himself that he had buried deep, and since gaining that knowledge he had yet to do a thing.

Had he found out about her gift? No, that was impossible. She could count the people that knew about it with the fingers of one hand. But if not that, what?


	15. Chapter 15

“You were lying.” Tom said.

“About what?” she asked.

“About Kaiser. I believe you do have an opinion on him.” he said.

She raised an eyebrow, humoured.

“And why would you care about what I make of him?”

“I don’t care, but I wonder why you were lying.” he responded.

“That’s for me to know.” she answered.

They had been facing each other up to that moment, but she turned her head around, looking at the courtyard instead of him.

“I would have assumed that lying to your friends would be something against your moral code.” he said.

“Since when do you care about morals?” she asked him without looking at him. It was easier to talk to him that way.

“I don’t, but you usually do.” he answered. Much like she was, he looked at what was happening in front of him.

There was nobody around, even if it wasn’t past curfew yet. The cold wind moved the leaves of the plants in the courtyard softly, and Tom and Arabella were the only ones to observe the silent choreography.

“If you must know, I don’t particularly care whether my friends know what I actually think of Kaiser or not. In fact, you can ask Morris or Malfoy and they could tell you what I actually think, but when you’re in public you never know who might be listening.” she explained.

“Do you worry about redactors from the Daily prophet being there?” he asked.

“I do. It wouldn’t be exactly beneficial to see an article about how I’m badmouthing my most likely soon to be fiancé.”

Tom stayed in silence for a few seconds.

“Did you only come here to ask me about that?” she asked him, finally turning slightly so she could look at him.

“My motives shouldn’t matter to you.” he responded, as he raised from his position.

He looked around them one last time, contemplating the courtyard, before speaking up again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at the meeting with the prefects. It’s the last one before the Christmas holidays.”

He didn’t wait to see if she had heard him as he walked away.

Opening one tall wooden door to one of the corridors that lead closest to the dungeons, he turned to look at where she had been.

She was still there, looking in his direction.

His eyes met hers for a brief second, but he quickly turned around as he entered the corridor, letting the door close behind him.

He had been curious as to what she really thought about Kaiser for reasons he couldn’t quite understand, but his curiosity didn’t stop there.

He found himself thinking about her almost every day. Every time he looked at her he wondered what she might be thinking about in that very moment. He wanted to know her opinions on certain topics and to find more about her, and in general, to know everything that there was to know about her.

He wondered how she had managed to find so much out about him without completely revealing herself to him.

Things were usually the opposite for him, where he would find out everything about people without revealing his true nature to them.

When it came to Arabella though, she always seemed to know more than she let on. Whenever she looked at him, she always had a face that said ‘I know more about you than you even know yourself’.

But oh, dear Arabella, how could that be possible? He knew that there were some things that she was hiding, some things that would explain the current inexplicability of her actions.

He had been curious about her for a while, and he had even put a few plans in action with his followers that would allow him to find out more about her, but with every passing day his curiosity only seemed to grow bigger.

That was not the only thing that drew him closer to her, though.

Tom liked trophies, and he had for a long time. When he was younger he often stole things from other kids at the orphanage. He had never felt guilty about it. Instead, when he saw the things he had been collecting through the years he felt happy, prideful.

He was stronger and more intelligent. They were muggles and he was a wizard. He was better than them, in every way possible.

He also had kept Marvolo Gaunt’s ring as a trophy the night he murdered his father and his paternal grandparents.

He still planned to expand his collection. At the moment, his followers were searching for the founder’s object. The diadem, the cup, the locket and the sword. He intended to make six horcruxes that with the part of his soul that remained inside him, would cause seven divisions of his souls.

Seven, the number of perfection.

Apart from that, there was one more trophy that he wanted, and it came in the shape of the redhead head girl.

He surrounded himself with powerful people constantly, the most powerful amongst the powerful, yet that was never quite enough.

He wanted more people to follow him. He wanted to be a lord that could say anything and his followers would follow his orders blindly. He craved that kind of power, but amongst all of those that he wanted to have as his followers, there was one name that constantly occupied his mind.

The reason behind it, of course, was not only that she was powerful, but she was also the perfect trophy. Having her next to him, working for him, going against her father to follow him was what he dreamt about. The minister’s daughter, always so perfect and lovely, completely devoted to him. It brought a small smile to his face.

\---

The day after every hour seemed to last for an eternity, making Arabella as well as other students spend the morning paying more attention to the passing minutes on the clock rather than what the professors were saying.

The afternoon finally came around, and Arabella walked towards the room where the meetings with the prefects were held. At the beginning of the year she had sometimes walked there with Tom, but seeing how things were at the moment, she preferred not spending more time with him than it was strictly necessary.

She arrived twenty minutes earlier, and luckily, he hadn’t arrived yet.

She placed her things on her desk and pulled out a parchment that contained some of the things they needed to discuss with the prefects, such as problems that students had reported or the timetables for the January patrols.

She tied her hair into a high ponytail as she reread the paper, trying to make sure that nothing was missing.

At that very moment, the door opened.

Tom walked in long strides, not acknowledging her as he dropped his bag on the wooden table in the middle of the room before taking his blazer off and discarding it next to his bag.

She sat on her desk, her feet dangling without reaching the floor, as she looked at him.

He seemed to be deep in thought, his hair wilder than usual, as if he had been running his hands through it constantly.

“A galleon for your thoughts?” she asked after observing him for a few seconds.

Instead of responding, he rolled his eyes at her.

He walked towards where she was, and grabbed the papers from her desk, proceeding to read them.

“This has been changed from what we originally planned, hasn’t it? You didn’t inform me of the change.” He said.

“Abbott couldn’t patrol that day because it was at the same time as her Astronomy Tower and Rogers preferred patrolling on Tuesdays because he didn’t have to go patrolling right after Quidditch practice that way, it was a logical change.” She explained.

“I’m the Head boy, you should have asked me first so I could approve it.” He told her, visibly annoyed.

“And I am the Head girl. Whether you like it or not, we are equals and we have the same level of authority, so if you felt like it was alright to change Patil’s patrolling days so that they fit your interests better without consulting me first, I’m allowed to do the same thing.” She answered.

He looked at her in the eyes, and she held his gaze.

“What do you know about what my interests are?” he asked.

“I know that you wanted to have Sundays free because that’s the day when you reunite with your goons, and it was the day you were supposed to patrol until you changed it to Mondays.”

“My goons?” a dry laugh escaped his lips. He stepped closer to her, and his hand came up to caress her check, in a mockingly way.

He had been violent with her, when he had held her by the throat or had tied her up yet, at the moment that caressing her cheek with the back of his hand seemed like the most violent of gestures.

His hand then moved to hold her chin in place, forcing her to maintain eye contact with him.

“Did you know that Rosier is always in attendance?” he asked as a wicked grin formed in his face.

“I know.” She answered.

The door opened then, and Septimus Weasley, the sixth year Gryffindor prefect, made his way into the room. Almost immediately after stepping in, he stopped in his tracks.

Tom got away from her as soon as he heard the creaking of the door, but based on Septimus’s wide eyed expression, it seemed like it was too late.

“I- I think I’ll leave now.” the younger Gryffindor said as he gripped the handle of the door, after noticing Riddle’s severe gaze on him.

“There’s no need,” Arabella said as she looked at the clock that hung by the door. “The meeting is about to start.” Septimus nodded his head, and made his way towards the table where Tom had left his things, seating in the seat closest to the door.

The rest of prefects started to arrive shortly after, chattering filling the room that had been filled with uncomfortable silence until that moment.

The reunion didn’t last for too long, as even the prefects were too excited about the Holidays to pay any mind to whatever her or Tom had to say, so after half an hour, they ended the meeting.

Most of them left the room pretty quickly, but as she went to collect her things from her desk, she noticed how Tom was resting against it, facing her.

“It seemed like Abbott was pleased with the change.” Tom said.

“I would hope so.” Arabella responded, as she moved to stand next to him in order to grab her bag.

He watched her as she did so, and when she hung it over her shoulder he spoke again.

“You mentioned me meeting with what I believe you called,” he stopped for a moment, thoughtful “my goons, yes, that’s what you called them. And honestly, Arabella, you leave me no other choice but to ask who told you about that.”

He gazed at her, waiting for her to answer. Oh, how desperately he wanted to take a dip in her thoughts again, but no, he couldn’t. Not at the moment, at least. He had made too many mistakes already, and she had too much knowledge against him already.

“Why wouldn’t I have been able to find out about it on my own?” she asked him.

“There is no doubt of your intelligence,” the words felt like venom on his tongue as he pronounced them, “but you are never particularly observant of your surroundings, about the people that are around you at a certain moment or about when people come and go. You are far too self-centred for that.”

The smirk that had formed on her face at his praise quickly disappeared.

“So, the question that remains is, who was the one to actually notice?” he asked, with a mischievous smile forming in his lips.

She looked at him for a moment, before answering. “Your judgement of me is centred around assumptions you have made yourself, which based on how little you actually know me, have little to know credibility.”

She responded with a smile of her own, although one that didn’t quitter reach her eyes, before heading towards the door.

Tom didn’t follow her, and instead, picked up his things and headed towards the Quidditch pitch, where he knew the Slytherin team was practicing.

He had to wait some time before practice stopped, but he didn’t mind waiting, he had learnt to be patient when he wanted something.

He waited right by the exit of the boy’s changing room, and a while later, he finally began to hear the voices of the players that walked in.

Abraxas, Laurence and Victor were the last ones to leave, and all three of them had the same surprised expression after realizing the Head boy’s presence, although for each of them it looked slightly different, ranging from Abraxas’ distaste, Victor’s fear, to Laurence’s happiness.

“Can I have a word with you, Abraxas?” he asked.

Abraxas then handed his things to Victor, who shot him a worried look but didn’t say anything, as he was dragged away by Laurence.

It hadn’t been hard to figure out the truth on this occasion. He knew that his knights couldn’t have been the ones to share the information, that was for sure, they all knew about the consequences of disobeying his commands too well, and he knew that neither of the girls had told her, either.

It wasn’t because he thought that they couldn’t be observant or intelligent, but because their heads were occupied with much different issues. They simply didn’t have a reason to question his motives or to look into his actions, and the possibility that either Lestrange or Mulciber had told them was out of the question.

That only left one candidate though, and it worked out perfectly. A thought crossed his mind then, and he wondered why he only felt the need to take revenge against the Malfoy heir, when Arabella had angered him multiple times in the past.

For the moment, he decided not to linger on the thought, and instead get to the task in hand.

“What did you want, Riddle?”

“Follow me.” Tom responded, as he began walking.

He knew Abraxas was doubting himself, from the way he didn’t follow him right away before running to catch up with him.

Tom didn’t say a word until they reached a more secluded area that he considered to be more appropriate for the occasion.

When they reached the entrance to the forbidden forest, he finally turned to face him.

Abraxas’ face was a mix of emotions, radiating between fear and annoyance.

“Are you going to tell me what you wanted or did you just want to go for a walk?” he teased.

Tom’s lips pursed into a thin line, as he brought his wand up. With a silent incantation, Abraxas’ wand came flying towards him.

“Crucio.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! My mental health has been in shambles for this past weeks, so I couldn't get as much done as I would have liked to, but either way, I'm finally updating! (yey!). Also, I only ever mentioned this while responding to a comment, but english isn't my first language, and while I try to re-read every chapter multiple times and I try really hard to have proper grammar I apologize if there's any mistakes or things of the sort. That is all, take care and thanks for reading the story!! <3 <3

Light erupted from Tom’s wand, as Abraxas was reduced to the ground. His face was twisted in pain, doing his best not to give in to screaming to prevent Tom from gaining any further satisfaction.

Tom’s torture lasted only for a minute, even if it seemed like an eternity for Abraxas. The Head boy showed no signs of mercy, as he only stopped using the spell after he noticed how Abraxas' eyes had finally closed and his breathing was much slower.

He could have killed him if he had so pleased, and perhaps if he had continued with the spell he would have, but Abraxas was not worth it.

He left Abraxas’ wand beside him on the grass, as he lowered himself to talk to him.

He knew he was unconscious, but it didn’t matter if he heard him speak or not, surely even if he didn’t he would understand what had fuelled Tom’s actions.

“You know, Malfoy? Perhaps you should stop sticking your nose into other people’s business.”

He got up after that and turned around, leaving him there.

\---

Arabella was reading in her bedroom when the door was opened.

Adelaine, who was usually stoic and calm, moved frantically as she approached her, grabbing her by the forearm.

“What’s wrong?” Arabella asked.

“It’s Abraxas, come on.”

Arabella followed Adelaine’s lead without questioning it.

She tried asking further questions, but she received no answer.

When they arrived, she finally saw it.

Abraxas, laying on his back with his eyes closed, his head being held between Mulciber’s hands.

She felt herself running before she realized that she was doing it.

She knelt beside her friend, and held his hands between hers, not knowing what to do.

She looked up, and her eyes met Mulciber’s.

“What happened?”

“I don’t-I don’t know. Adelaine and I found him here.” He explained, but as soon as he began speaking, his eyes drifted away from hers.

“We need to get him to the Hospital Wing.”

“No, you can’t.” he exclaimed.

“I can and I will.” She answered, before turning to look at Adelaine.

The girl walked up to them.

“It really isn’t necessary that you take him to the Hospital wing, you know? He will wake up on his own just fine.” He said, but it was clear that he didn’t believe his own words.

“Why are you so worried, William?” his girlfriend asked.

“It’s nothing, darling, it’s just that perhaps they’ll begin asking questions and… you know… we were the ones to first find him, aren’t you worried that they will incriminate us?”

She looked at him like she was looking at him for the first time, a new level of shock invading her features.

“For fucks sake, William,” Adelaine began speaking. It was one of the only times Arabella had heard her cussing. “First of all, they don’t have any reason to incriminate us, but even if they were to, why do you care? Have you done something that you don’t want them finding out?”

William stayed in silence, watching as Arabella cast a levitating spell on Abraxas, as he was too heavy for them to carry.

The Head girl began walking without waiting for any of them to follow.

Adelaine didn’t move from her spot at first, as she whispered, loud enough for both of them to hear. “He is supposed to be your friend, what the hell is wrong with you?”

She then hurried to join Arabella.

“William had told me about thestrals, about how they were hidden in the forest and he wanted me to meet them. When we arrived here, we saw him laying on the ground, on his side, and there was nobody around. I tried to find Victor before I came looking for you, but he was nowhere to be seen.”

“Do you have any ideas on what might have happened to him?” Arabella asked.

“I have no clue. Perhaps he was just dizzy or he was attacked by some animal in the forest.”

They didn’t talk anymore after that.

Some students and a few professors sent them concerned glances as they took Abraxas into the Infirmary, but nobody tried to stop them.

“Oh, sweet Merlin, first it was injured Quidditch players and now this.” The nurse muttered to herself. “Place him here, please.” She said as she pointed towards one of the empty beds in the room.

Arabella was careful with her actions, moving the boy tenderly until the white sheets touched his skin before stopping the spell, placing her wand back into one of the pockets of her robes.

“What might have possibly happened?” the woman asked the two girls.

“I was out for a walk with my boyfriend when we saw him passed out from far away. I immediately came to look for her,” Adelaine said as she turned to look at Arabella “as she is the Head girl, and she is also a close friend of his.” The girl explained.

“Poor boy.” the woman whispered. “Well, you two can leave now, I need to get to work and I can’t have any distractions!”

The girls exited the room without complaining any further, as they knew that not even Arabella’s position as Head girl would save them from a detention if they dared to contradict her orders.

They then walked towards the Great Hall, as it was almost time for dinner.

They were some of the first students to arrive, so they took a seat at the end of the Slytherin table, placing their things next to them in the bench so that nobody would try to take a seat beside them.

“Arabella?” Adelaine asked.

“Yes?”

“I don’t understand what happened with William, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. What do you think?”

“I don't really understand what was up with him, either, but it’s alright, we’ll figure it out. Maybe you could talk to him later, when things have simmered down a bit, and see how he reacts.”

“Yeah, perhaps I’ll have to do that.”

The sound of rapid footsteps approaching them distracted them, as they both turned to look at the source of the noise.

It was Veronica, who was now moving Adelaine’s things away to take a seat beside her, before placing them next to her, to maintain their home made barrier.

“How are you two doing? What happened?”

“We’re fine, but Abraxas is in the Infirmary.” Arabella responded.

“Yeah, so have I heard. I was in the common room playing chess with James when William came looking for Laurence, who was also in the common room with us. I couldn’t hear everything but I did hear something about taking Abraxas to the Hospital wing. He seemed very concerned.”

Adelaine then explained the story for the third time, also including the details about William’s reaction.

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Veronica concluded after hearing the story.

“I know, that was what I was just telling Arabella. I’ll talk to him later tonight, I think, and I’ll let you know how it goes.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw the boys approaching the table. Tom led the way, with Victor and James following immediately after, both of them holding their heads high as they walked. A few feet behind were Laurence and William, who were quietly whispering between them.

Arabella wondered if Victor even knew what had happened, from how unaffected he looked, so as he walked by, she grabbed him by the wrist, bringing him closer until she could whisper in his ear.

“Did you know that Abraxas is in the Hospital wing?”

Concern immediately took over his features. “What? How?”

“Go ask your little friends, I’m sure William will be able to give you an answer.” She said bitterly before she could control the words that left her mouth.

“What do you mean by ‘my little friends’?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“I don’t know. Whatever you want it to mean.” She sharply said.

He shook his head in disbelief then, before walking where the boys were seated, in the opposite end of the table.

\---

It had been almost twenty four hours after the incident, and it was only now that Pomfrey had opened the Infirmary for visitors.

As she stepped in, she noticed how Abraxas was still in bed, similar to how they had left him yesterday, but he was now awake.

“How are you doing?” she murmured in a soft voice.

“I’ve been better.”

He sat up, and she took the opportunity to sit in the corner of the bed he had left empty.

“Pomfrey told me you and Adelaine brought me here,” he said. “Thanks.”

“I couldn’t just let you in the forest for the acromantulas to find you now, could I?”

They stayed in silence for a moment.

“What happened to you?” she asked.

With a gesture of his finger, he motioned for her to come closer.

“Riddle. He used cruccio on me.”

“You need to report him to Dippet immediately.”

“You know as well as I do that it wouldn’t work. It’s known that he and I don’t get along, and he’s got a perfect reputation, unlike me. If I were to say something, I would look like it was badmouthing him out of envy.” He explained.

“But you could send a letter to your father, he would surely believe you, and I’m sure he has the power to get him expelled.”

“My father is tired of me as it is, and even if he complied, it would start a war between me and him that wouldn’t benefit me in the long run.”

They both remained in silence until a few seconds after Abraxas decided to speak up again.

“He came over looking for me after Quidditch practice and guided me to the outskirts of the forest. He used the spell on me for a while, and right before I passed out he said something to me, but I don’t think that he realized that I hadn’t passed out just yet.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me to stop sticking my nose into others' business. I was very tired when he said this to me, of course, and I didn’t remember it right away, but as I began to think about what happened I remembered it.”

She didn’t know how to respond, what to say that would comfort him, so she stayed in silence.

She still wanted to show him some comfort though, so she moved her hand towards his, and began caressing his arm and hand softly.

“I spent the entirety of the morning thinking of what I could have possibly done that Riddle would have considered to be sticking my nose into his business, and there is only one thing I can think of that he would be referring to.” He explained.

“Yes? What is that?” She asked him.

“I was the one to notice the meetings that he held with some of the boys. You were the only one I told, so I must ask you, did you tell him?”

“What? No I didn’t.” she spoke.

Almost immediately after, images from the previous day began forming in her head.

“Although,” she began speaking as Abraxas watched her intently. “I must take some blame. Yesterday I had a meeting with the prefects and naturally, he was there. At some point though, we got into a bit of a small argument, and I hinted that I knew about the meetings.” She confessed. Every word made her feel more and more guilty.

Abraxas’ gaze on her was severe, and he didn’t speak for a few seconds.

Now that she had come to the realization of the consequences of her words, she felt entirely responsible for his situation, and she didn’t quite know how he would react.

In the past, he had been always thoughtful and when they had gotten into arguments, which were rare and short, since nothing serious had ever actually happened between them, he was often considerate and rarely lashed out, but nervousness and guilt still filled her, making her remove his hands from his arm and making it impossible for her to hold eye contact with him.

“Arabella, you’re an idiot.” He concluded.

“I know, I- I’m sorry. Merlin, I am. I wasn’t thinking too much and I guess I just wanted to prove a point to him or something like that.” She wanted to say many things, yet when she spoke, she thought that she was doing a terrible job at explaining herself.

While her gaze was fixed on her thighs, his never left her face.

“I’m pissed at you, I’m not going to lie, but, I know that you didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just… you need to learn to measure your words and to keep your mouth shut, alright?”

She nodded. He motioned for her to come closer, so she moved from her position on the bed until he engulfed her in a hug.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered with her head buried in the crook of his neck.

His arms were wrapped around her back, almost in a fatherly fashion. “I know.” He whispered back.


	17. Chapter 17

After they talked for a little bit longer, Arabella left the room.

She didn’t notice anything out of the usual, so when a hand gripped her wrist to turn her around, she was definitely surprised.

Perhaps Tom was right, and she didn’t pay as much attention to her surroundings as she had previously thought.

Her eyes instantly met Victor’s, who was looking at her with narrowed eyes

“How can you act all so high and mighty when Abraxas is in there because of you? Huh?” he inquired.

“What do you mean?”

“You were acting yesterday as if you were so much better than me, telling me to go to talk with my little friends of sorts and then I have to listen to you telling Abraxas how you can’t keep your fucking mouth shut!” he said, getting aggravated by the second.

“Don’t give me lessons of morale, Rosier.” She snarled.

“Oh, of course, how could I! Fucking hell, Arabella, why did you have to prove a point to him? Do you not realize?” he stopped for a second. “He’s smarter than you, in every way. He’s fucking dangerous, so if you hate him as much as you claim you do, just stay away from him.”

“Oh, because you know him so well now, do you? Listen, I make mistakes like everyone here, and I don’t need you to tell me that what I did was wrong because I already know it. I don’t understand you anymore, Victor, because you talk to me like you care so much about Abraxas and about how bad I was, but then you are the one who has willingly joined him, so what does that say about you? Who do you actually care about?”

His facial expression softened slightly, from the rage that had momentarily blinded him to a look of being simply lost.

“You don’t know- You don’t understand.” He said.

“Tell me then, I’ll try.”

He looked at her one last time, before he disappeared into the darkness of the corridors.

She stayed glued to the spot for a moment, processing the encounter, when she heard him from far away.

“What the fuck are you two looking at?” and next, it was the sound of rushing footsteps that as they moved through the corridors, she saw belonged to two second year Hufflepuff girls.

Unknown to Victor and Arabella, two people had been listening to their conversation.

Abraxas, on one hand, hadn’t been doing so willingly, but their voices were simply too loud as they had been standing right by the doors of the Hospital Wing, so they had given him no other choice.

His heart felt torn, because he didn’t know what would happen next. The Holidays were approaching rapidly, and he didn’t know if the conflict would be solved. He didn’t care too much about him and Riddle, as he could simply ignore him, but he did care about Arabella and Victor.

They had always been best friends, almost since they learned how to walk, and an old worry resurfaced. When Arabella and Victor began dating a few years ago, he wondered about what would happen if they broke up. He never said anything out loud, of course, as he didn’t want them to think that he wasn’t happy for them, but he secretly wished that they hadn’t had feelings for each other.

He felt left out in a way, like he would bother them by being around them now that one had found the other, even if neither of them had done anything to fuel his worries, and he constantly wondered if he would have to pick and choose who his best friend was, if nothing would go back to being the same if they ever parted ways.

When they finally did break up, after almost a year of dating, Abraxas was miserable. Both Arabella and Victor were sad, naturally, and they required a friend next to them, but he couldn’t be there for both of them, and in a way, he needed someone to be there for him as well.

At the time, his grandfather had just died. He still missed him terribly to this day, and if he was here, he would probably have some advice to give him, something that would surely comfort him and put his mind to rest, he always did.

Arabella and Victor didn’t talk to each other in two months and he thought at the time that nothing would ever be the same, but luckily, it appeared that time healed everything and things slowly got back to normal.

At the Malfoy manor he felt like he had to hide. His father didn’t know that he was in the Quidditch team, as he would have never approved of such a thing, so when it was time to come back, he felt like he was impersonating someone. He always pretended to be what his father expected from him, a young member of high pureblood society that cared about blood status and winning money, when either of the things were the least of his worries.

But he found some comfort at Hogwarts, where between Arabella and Victor, and more recently, Veronica as well, he felt like he could finally be himself. Hogwarts was his true home and he wondered, if after today’s fight, Arabella and Victor would go back to not talking to each other.

He hoped not, of course, but as they saw Victor less and less each day, he realized that it would most likely not make much of a difference.

In the shadows, watching as Victor scurried away while Arabella remained fixed in the spot as she ran her hands through her hair stood Tom, who felt at equal parts joyful and pissed.

He was pissed at Victor, about the way he had talked about him with Arabella, about he had warned her off about him.

It wasn’t because he was necessarily trying to lure her in, even if that would surely be beneficial for him, because he was perfectly aware of the hatred she felt for him, but instead because Victor was supposed to be one of his knights, he was supposed to look up to him.

Tom considered that he was one of the smartest students at the school, and he was clearly above his knights when it came to magic. Perhaps he should remind them of who he was, and what he could do to them. He had considered changing his name in the past, or at least, making his knights refer to him by a different name.

He didn’t want to be addressed by his muggle name, it felt dirty, poisoned and simply like a cruel joke to someone of his kind to be referred to as something so low, seeing how much of a disgrace his father was.

He was also pissed at all the chatter about love and care. Tom knew how emotional people were, even if his emotions were so contained to the point where he wondered if he was capable of feeling any emotions at all besides anger, that is. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like their attitudes just put into show how weak they actually were.

Most people were fundamentally flawed in the sense that they simply cared too much, to the point where they stopped trying to achieve whatever that it was that they desired in the name of some weak moral code. Tom didn’t differentiate good from bad, his world was completely grey, and as he saw it, there was just power and those too weak to seek it.

And if one thing was for sure, it was that he wasn’t weak. He had overcome so much more than this rich school kids ever would, and often times, that simple thought made his blood boil.

Salazar himself knew what he had been born into one of the sacred twenty eight families his life would have been much more easy. He wouldn’t have to deal with the constant disgrace of his tainted fate, a frail mother that was too weak to even live and a muggle father, who was not even pathetic enough not to have magic but who also had a disdain for those who did.

There were also the advantages that his so-called friends had over him. Growing up, he only had a few pairs of jackets and pants that he could wear, and as he reached puberty and began growing taller, he had to use magic to enlarge them so they continued fitting him. He had never had any money, so when they went to Hogsmade, he could only watch in awe as kids like Laurence spent more money on candy that he could even dream of having.

They didn’t even care or appreciate what they had, always taking it for granted. They didn’t understand or know their struggle. They hadn’t seen the orphanage, they hadn’t seen the cold winters there, before he was old enough to go to Hogwarts.

He remembered with detail those winter nights, how they didn’t have any money to heat the place up so every night the only protection they had against the weather was a thin blanket, and oftentimes, he would feel grateful if after they switched them around after doing laundry, his didn’t have any holes in it. It was cold, humid and dirty. He never had any toys and the rest of the kids were mean to him.

He was mean to them in return, naturally, but it was really the only way to survive in that place. His magic was the only advantage he had over them and Salazar knew he liked to prove to them how much more powerful he was.

It was even worse after the second muggle war began, when he had to return to the orphanage for the summer. It was almost impossible to sleep for a full night, the ambulance sirens woke him up quite often, but it was better than the bombings or the screams.

Ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, he knew that he had to be careful. People like Malfoy or Avery could get away with a lot of things, because they had a name that backed them up. But he was Riddle, and that meant nothing, so he fashioned himself an identity.

The identity that he was deserving of but that he had never been given. He had worked incredibly hard to craft it, having to work the hardest out of all the kids as soon as he arrived at the school to gather knowledge about the place and the different areas of magic, to please all of the teachers and to gain some power.

None of his followers knew that he was a half-blood, of course, as it was his greatest source of shame. He knew that if they were to ever find out it was rare that they would even look at him, let alone respect him, and it was already bad enough that some of them knew that he was an orphan.

He hadn’t planned on any of them finding out, but it was the train ride at the beginning of his first year and he didn’t know anything about the Wizarding world, so he shared it with his first alliances. While he was smarter than the other kids, he still made mistakes. Those first alliances had been Laurence and James, who were now one of his two most loyal followers.

Laurence’s family was one of the most extreme ones when it came to blood purist ideals, as far as he knew, and every time he had visited his home they had discussed with him how disgusting they considered it that Dippet would allow half-bloods and mudbloods into the school, without knowing who they were really talking to.

That was precisely one of his greatest sources of joy. Even if he hated his muggle ancestry and tried to get as far away from it as possible, he took pride in fooling all of them, making them move around like puppets under his commands.

He was superior than them, despite his tainted blood, and whatever he said, they would do, no questions asked. They got their hands dirty for him, landed themselves in detention multiple times, everything so that he could maintain his perfect reputation.

He realized how easy they had been manipulated, and it almost made him feel giddy. All it took was to pronounce the word “power” two times, and to make a few comments about bringing the wizarding world back to its original glory, before muggles had tainted it for them to be at his feet.

He watched Arabella intently, as he waited for her to leave.

She was sad and it made him giddy. He discovered how he had been wrong, when he had considered that he hadn’t punished her for wronging him, because his actions had led to just that. He knew that she was already most likely regretting her short lived argument with Rosier and that she felt entirely guilty about what happened to the boy that laid in the Infirmary, which only helped prove his theory further.

Love was a weakness everyone around him suffered, except for him. It was the perfect punishment that had allowed him to kill two birds with one stone.

Finally, she disappeared through the corridors and when he considered it safe, he left as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the way I'm publishing two chapters in a single day... I feel like a productive queen


	18. Chapter 18

As they arrived at the train station at Hogsmade, it was clear that the sitting placements from the trip would be different from how they had gotten to the castle during the first of September.

In the end, Adelaine, Arabella, Veronica and Abraxas shared a compartment, while they left the boys on their own.

Arabella hadn’t talked to Victor or Tom yet and there was still lingering tension between Adelaine and William. Naturally, Abraxas didn’t want to come in contact with Tom more than it was necessary, and as much as Vero was enjoying getting to know Laurence, she stayed behind with her roommates.

After their arrival at the station, they used a portkey to get to the manor.

She had been there many times, of course, but she had to admit it was an impressive sight, so she didn't blame Veronica or Adelaine when their mouths fell open.

In front of them stood a French style garden, which with its intricate patterns on the grass and the vast amount of beautiful plants was mesmerizing in itself, but looking up past it stood the house itself, with enough meters and floors to host all students from their school.

The baroque manor had ivy escalating on some of its walls, yet never covering any of the statues of angels and other creatures.

They were guided to their rooms by a house elf, who had bowed so dramatically its nose had almost touched the floor. Arabella recognized it as Millie, an elf that she had known for years as she was often the one to clean after the havoc Abraxas, Victor and her would cause when they were younger.

They walked through an eternity of corridors. All of them had dark hardwood flooring and its walls and ceiling were decorated with delicate frescos. The walls were not the only thing decorated though, as they had to navigate through the countless statues.

They finally reached the corridor where they would be staying. Her room was the one at the end of it, the same room she had stayed in every time she had been at the manor.

Millie opened the door up for her, and followed Arabella into the room.

The elf spoke then. “Will Miss need anything? Millie would be most pleased to serve.” She said, still holding the door.

“No, Millie, thank you.” Arabella responded as she dropped her luggage on her floor, before walking towards the bed and letting herself fall on her back against the comfortable mattress.

“Millie is incredibly happy to see Master Victor’s friends again.” She said as she bowed down dramatically, before exiting the room.

\---

The next day, the twenty third of December, most of them were sitting down in the drawing room. That was excluding Veronica and James, who were catching up on some assignments in the library and Tom, but nobody knew where he had gone to.

Arabella was skimming through a fashion magazine, undoubtedly from Victor’s mother, that talked about how fur coats were catching up in popularity, many young witches ditching traditional robes for them.

Arabella was rather happy at the news, she had always hated traditional robes and loved wearing short skirts and dresses instead.

She felt somebody besides her, and saw Laurence as she looked up from the magazine.

“Fancy accompanying me for some last minute Christmas gift shopping?” he said quietly.

“Why don’t you ask Vero?”

“I already did. She’s studying and told me to go away.” He explained.

She arched an eyebrow at him. “And why would I want to go with you?”

“Because you love spending money.” he said, jokingly.

“That I do.” She admitted, letting out a soft laugh.

“Come on, I’ll invite you to lunch.” He said as he got up from the couch.

She followed him shortly after, as they both went to pick up their coats and floo powder.

They appeared in Montrose, a wizard village fairly close to the Rosier’s manor.

Climbing out of the fireplace, she looked around the pub they were in. It was filled with people and laughter and chatter filled the air. Where Hogs head Inn was dark and dimly light, the furniture in here was all in light shades of wood, and there were plenty of windows that let the sun in. It also seemed a lot cleaner than the pub in Hogsmade.

They quickly found their exit, and from how busy it was Arabella assumed they were on one of the main shopping streets.

She didn’t remember having been here before, as every time she had visited Victor they had gone to Banchory instead.

Banchory was more of a small city rather than a village, there were some tall buildings that reminded her a lot of London, whereas Montrose was filled with two story houses, most of them with pastel coloured facades.

It looked like something out of a fairy tale, with buildings that looked more like dollhouses, the thousands of Christmas decorations in every corner of every street and all of the people. There were a lot of couples and even more families.

She observed them, how some fathers carried their little ones on their shoulders or how some of the kids ran enthusiastically from one shop to another, dragging their parents along.

It brought an involuntary smile to her face.

“Can we meet here in an hour and a half? I need to run some errands, rather boring.” The boy besides her said.

She arched an eyebrow, curious, but didn’t pry. “Alright.”

When they parted ways, she immediately took notice of a shop that seemed to almost call her name.

Sastre’s witchwear.

Approaching it, she noticed a dress similar to one she had seen in the fashion magazine in the storefront, and that was all the convincing that she needed for going in.

She decided to try on the dress, which was a very beautiful shade of light yellow, with a delicate design on the collar and the pockets.

Afterwards, she saw a jeweller’s and immediately approached it.

She had never celebrated Christmas with either Veronica or Adelaine, as they all went home for the holidays, but she was excited to finally be able to give them their gifts in person instead of owling them.

She got Veronica a necklace. It had a tear shaped emerald with a delicate chain made of gold. She got Adelaine a pair of earrings. They were dangly and made of gold. They had a round amethyst dangling down, with a pearl right underneath it.

She got herself a silver bracelet, too, because she believed that you simply could never have too much jewellery. The shopkeeper smiled at her widely when she left the store.

She checked the time at a clock dangling off a building in the corner of a street. She still had some time left.

She then visited a quill shop, where she bought a self-inking quill for Abraxas. It was a raven feather quill, with a beautiful design in silver by its base.

After that it was time for Victor’s gift, because even if they weren’t on speaking terms at the moment she still thought that it was only appropriate that she got him a gift as well.

In the end, she entered a music store and got him a gramophone record. It was a collection of the best songs by Victor’s favourite composer, Klaus Schmidt. He was an older wizard from Germany, and Victor adored him like no other. When they were younger, he even sent a few owls to him, but he never got an answer back.

He was the reason Victor had wanted to learn how to play the piano in the first place, but his mother’s persistence had been a good enough reason in itself.

He had also tried to teach Abraxas and Arabella how to play it when Arabella mentioned that her mother was trying to teach her how to play the piano too, but they quickly discovered that neither Abraxas nor Arabella had any talent for music.

As she exited the shop she immediately recognized Laurence leaning back against the walls of the pub and she made her way towards him, trying not to bump into anyone along the way.

“You’re late.” He said, yet he wasn’t trying to be rude, or it didn’t look like it, at least. It was more as if he was just pointing out an obvious thing.

She looked up at the clock she had checked before, but she was further away from it now and she had to squint her eyes to really see it.

“Only by five minutes.” She said in the end.

He moved from the wall then, and began walking. He was carrying even more bags than her, and she couldn’t understand how he had managed to buy so many things in so little time.

“I didn’t know you were planning on doing some shopping yourself.” He commented.

“Neither did I.” she responded honestly.

They walked for some time, getting away from the crowded streets into a calmer part of town. It was equally beautiful, but these streets had a bit less Christmas decoration, probably because less people were going to see them.

Once they reached a cafe, he opened the door for her and stepped in after she did.

They were guided to a table near the back by a younger waitress who never stopped sending glances towards Laurence as they ordered, but he didn’t seem to care.

“Scotland’s heartthrob, are you?” Arabella said smiling once the young girl left.

He smiled back at her. “What can I say, Ara? I’m a ladies man.”

“I do hope that your eyes are only on one girl at the moment.”

“Of course, I’ve got eyes for no one but my lovely Veronica.”

She had to admit, those two were quite sweet.

“You’re a lovesick puppy.” She snickered.

He rolled her eyes at her, playfully.

Their food was brought shortly after. They had both ordered Cornish pastries, but Laurence had also ordered while Arabella had settled for some water.

“How come you don’t drink alcohol?” he asked before taking a sip of his drink.

“I drank alcohol once,” she started, but was interrupted by him. “Is that so?” he seemed genuinely surprised. “Yes. So, I didn’t have that much alcohol, to be fair, but I hated the feeling of not being in control, I guess.”

He snickered, and she raised her eyebrow at him. “What do you find so amusing?”

“Nothing, you just sound so much like Riddle. That’s the same reason why he doesn’t drink. He hates losing control.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t bring him up.”

“Why not?” he asked. She focused on her food to avoid answering.

“Why do you hate him, Ara?” he asked when he realized that she had purposefully dodged his last question.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Tom is great, once you get to know him. I really look up to him.”

“He’s got some… curious moral code, to put it that way.” She said with caution.

“He is fair with those who don’t cause him trouble, you just constantly try to get on his bad side.” He explained.

She rolled her eyes at him. “If for him to treat me fairly I need to obey every word he says and follow him around like a lost puppy I don’t mind being on his bad side.”

“Ara-.” She cut him off. “I didn’t come here to talk about Tom, Laurence.” She said sharply.

He stayed in silence for a few seconds, looking deep in thought.

“Alright.”

They ate in silence for a while, before he started making small talk again.

“So, you plan on working in the Ministry after we graduate?”

“I do. What about you?”

“I’d like to work in the Ministry too, preferably in the department of Mysteries. Perhaps we’ll be working side by side.” He joked.

“I’m aiming for minister, though.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

She chuckled.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“Has your father told you anything-” He stopped for a second, as he looked at the people around them. Nobody was paying attention but when he continued speaking, he did it in a much quieter tone. “About what’s going on with Grinderwald?”

“You know that I don’t talk much with my father.”

He nodded, before continuing to speak. “Some say he’s approaching England, trying to gain power here.”

“Who’s saying that?” she asked, and panic flared in her eyes, but even if she tried to hide it he still noticed it.

“Just people, it doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you only invite me so you could gather information?”

He didn’t say anything, but it answered her question.

She began getting up, but he gripped her by the arm so that she sat down again.

“What?” she spat.

“Just sit down, Ara.” She huffed but obeyed anyway.

“You asked me to come because Riddle told you to.” She said.

He didn’t answer, once again confirming her statement.

“You aren’t pretending to like Vero just because Riddle told you to, aren’t you?” she asked him.

His mouth fell open, surprised. “Of course not! You couldn’t possibly think that low of me.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds. “You can’t blame me.” She ended up whispering.

“I didn’t know Tom was interested in Grinderwald.” She said.

“I thought you said that you didn’t want me to bring him up.” He said with a crooked smile.

“Sod off.”

“I often think that you underestimate him, you know? He’s very ambitious and he’s got big plans for when we graduate.”

“I assume that you can’t share what he’s planning.” She said quietly.

“You’d be correct.” He responded.

“Can you do me a favour?” she asked him. It was clear his curiosity had peaked, from the way he leant in.

“It depends on the favour.”

“Look after Victor, will you? I worry about him.” She whispered.

“He joined willingly.” He told her.

“I never said he didn’t. I know that he isn’t a boy anymore and that he can make his own decisions, but I can’t help worrying about him.” She explained and silently prayed that Laurence wouldn’t tell either Victor or Tom.

“I’ll try my best.” He concluded. Perhaps there would come a day where he would need a favour back, and it was always good to have someone as Arabella owing him.


	19. Chapter 19

Days in the Rosier manor were usually repetitive. In the mornings, Victor, Abraxas and Laurence would bring out their brooms and practice. They usually tried to convince the rest to play along with them, but it had been to no avail.

The rest usually spent that time reading outside or going for walks, trying to take as much advantage of the sunlight as possible, as the night fell very quickly those winter days and the cold was unbearable after the sun hid itself.

The afternoons were dedicated to spending time by the fireplace. Whether it was working on homework, playing cards or chess or reading some more, they would all sit around the various couches in the living room until it was time for dinner.

Sometimes they would play music in Victor’s gramophone or they would simply listen to the crackling of the fire.

One of those nights, it was already past midnight and Arabella decided to get up from her bed, where she had been reading a magazine, and wander for a bit.

She had her pyjamas on, a light pink silk dress and a matching silk robe tied securely around her waist, but she figured that it was unlikely that she came across anybody, so she didn’t bother changing.

Perhaps she could go to the gardens and see the night sky. She had always heard that during the winter time the stars were a lot brighter.

She took her wand with her, so she could cast a warming spell if she needed to.

A few candles floated above her in the empty corridors as she walked towards the stairs.

Some of the paintings whispered and groaned as she walked through the hallways, angry that someone had disrupted their peace when they were trying to sleep.

Finally in the ground floor, faint whispers coming from a far away hallway immediately caught her attention. She hadn’t expected anyone to be out of bed.

Still trying to make her way towards the gardens, she realized that the voices were coming from Mr.Rosier’s study. Because the doors to the gardens were at the end of the hallway she realized that she would have to eventually come across whoever it was that was awake.

Walking closer, she first recognized Victor’s voice, but it was such a faint sound that made it impossible to understand what he was actually saying. Then, Mulciber spoke, in the same hushed tone.

As she continued walking, determined on getting to the gardens, she noticed that they had left the door ajar.

Curiosity took the best of her in that moment, and she tiptoed even closer, until she could finally see and hear what was happening in the room.

Tom stood with his back against her, focused on the soft dancing of the flames from the fireplace.

“Any more news on when Grinderwald might be arriving?” he received no responses.

“Mulciber? Any news from the department of magical relations?” Tom turned around slightly to look at where she assumed Mulciber probably was.

“No, my lord. From what I gathered after talking with some ministry workers, the minister either doesn’t know about Grinderwald’s plans of coming back to England or he’s ignoring them.”

Tom nodded at him, signalling that he had heard him, but he didn’t speak for a few seconds.

“I can’t believe we must call such a fool our minister.” He muttered.

She managed to contain the urge to huff, not wanting to blow away her cover.

“That brings me…,” Tom began speaking again. “Laurence, what did Selwyn say to you yesterday?”

“Apparently her father doesn’t share any information with her, my Lord. I don’t think she knows a thing about Grinderwald’s plans.”

Tom’s lips pursed into a thin line.

“You don’t think… is that a mere supposition or do you know that is the case, as a matter of fact?”

“I’m confident, my lord.”

“That’s not quite good enough.”

She realized that it was probably for the better that she abandoned her dreams of seeing the night sky, there was no doubt Tom would question her motives or what she knew or didn’t know if as she tried to open the doors to the gardens they even did as much as creaking and he was able to hear it.

So, she turned around and made her way towards her room.

As she arrived on the third floor, she saw that the door leading to the balcony was open, and decided to join whoever was outside. At least one thing was for sure, and it was that it wouldn’t be one of Tom’s followers, which was good enough.

Veronica turned around as she stepped in, greeting her with a smile. She was dressed in a similar manner, with a silk dress and matching robes dangling off her shoulders, only hers were sage green instead of light pink.

Arabella casted a warming spell on herself before joining her by the railing.

“How come you’re awake?” her friend asked her.

“I was bored so I decided to wander for a bit. You?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

They stayed in silence for some seconds, before Arabella spoke again.

“You’d never been here before, right?”

“No. I really like it, actually. The place is mesmerizing and even the elves are nice! How’s that one called… the one that carried our luggage?”

“Millie?”

“Yes, Millie. I wish I had elves like her in my place. She said that my emeralds complimented my eyes nicely when we arrived.” She said with a smile.

“How are things with your mom going?” Arabella asked her.

Veronica moved from her spot, leaning with her back against the railing and turning her head slightly as to look at Arabella.

“It’s alright, she’s doing a lot better now. Jacob sent me an owl this morning, apparently she went on a date yesterday night.” Veronica said, raising her brows slightly.

Veronica’s parents had gotten divorced right at the end of their sixth year. Both her and her brother had seemed to accept it fairly quickly, unlike most of the pureblood society.

It was rare news to hear about such things. Those who were more traditional looked down upon those that with children decided to part ways.

That was the case of Cantankerous Nott, the man who published the Pure-blood directory and the one to wipe them away from the list of the sacred 28 as a punishment of sorts, which only furthered the scandal.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m happy for her too.”

“How’s Jacob taking it? The divorce and all that.”

“He’s alright. All he cares about at the moment is Quidditch. I think he trains more than our beaters and he isn’t even in his first year yet.” She joked.

“I sometimes wish I had a brother, Jacob seems fun.”

Veronica looked at her in disbelief. “Believe me, you don’t wish you had a brother. Jacob has perfected the technique of leaving his underwear everywhere but in the laundry basket, he is the grossest boy I’ve ever seen.”

Their soft laughs echoed in the night.

“I think I’m going to go to bed now, are you coming?” Arabella asked after a while as she moved away from the railing.

“No, I think I’ll stay for a bit longer.” She said. Stepping away from the railings, she opened her arms slightly, inviting Arabella in and wrapping her in a gentle hug.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Arabella whispered.

“Sweet dreams.” Veronica whispered back.

\---

On Christmas day, the chatter coming from the hallways woke Arabella up.

She groaned to her pillow, before getting up from the bed.

Her stomach was roaring, so she wasted no more time and quickly got dressed before joining the group.

Most of them were already there, with the exception of James and Abraxas. Victor’s parents were there as well.

“Good morning.” Greeted Victor’s mother as she entered the room.

They shared their brown hair and the soft twinkle in their eyes.

“Good morning.” She answered as she took a seat besides Adelaine, the seat next to her empty.

She immediately remembered that she had forgotten to take her draughts, some that she needed to take every morning to try and lengthen her life expectancy but that not even healers were actually sure if they did anything at all or not.

Still, it was not too big of a deal and decided to just take them afterwards. She helped herself then to a cup of tea, some fruit and a piece of toast.

Not too long after, the two remaining boys appeared.

Abraxas didn’t have to think twice before taking the seat next to her, the other one being between Tom and Victor. Luckily, James didn’t seem to mind the seating arrangements, as he took a seat between the other two.

After breakfast, they all went to their rooms to get ready for the day. She felt slightly light headed as she made her way towards her room, but she had become so accustomed to dizziness that it had stopped worrying her a long time ago.

Making her way towards the bathroom, where she kept her draughts, she couldn’t help but stare at her reflection.

Her skin was shades paler than usual, not even her lips presented their usual soft pink tint. In the places where some colour remained, a light yellow tint had replaced the usual healthy colour of her skin.

Was that what Adelaine and Veronica saw every morning right after waking up and before she took her draught? If that was the case, she most likely owed them an apology.

Sitting in the counter were the small bottles she needed, which she took and gulped down without hesitation.

She had just decided on staying in the room for a while, until her face hopefully started looking a little bit healthier when she heard a knock on the door.

When she opened the door, she saw Tom standing on the other side.

“What do you want?” she said the words before she could stop them.

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Didn’t have a good sleep tonight?” he said as he made his way into the room.

“Go ahead, make yourself comfortable.” She said as he sat on her desk.

“You certainly don’t clean a lot.” He said, motioning with his head to a pile of discarded clothes by her bed.

“Did you come here just to say that?” she said, crossing her arms.

“I certainly did not. I wanted to inform you that because there are some matters we need to discuss, I will meet you in Mr.Rosier’s study tonight at eleven. I believe you’ll manage to find your way there.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “And what makes you think I’ll go?”

“Call it a gut feeling, if you will. Now, let’s go down with the rest. I wouldn’t want to waste your Christmas morning.” He said, as he walked towards the door and opened it up for her.

She looked at her bags with the gifts, but thought that since she hadn’t gotten gifts for everybody, it would be better to give them in another moment, not when everyone was around. So, she let him guide her to the drawing room with gritted teeth.

It reminded her of the first of September, when they had walked together to the meeting with the prefects and had their first proper conversation of the many that would follow, even if she hadn’t known it at the time.

As they stepped together into the room, Abraxas sent her a confused look, but she could only shrug in response.

As soon as she was able to, she left his side and took a seat next to Adelaine.

Laurence came into the room shortly after.

“Let’s get this started, shall we?” he said, as he placed multiple bags on a nearby table.

He first picked up two of them, and gave them to William and James.

He had gotten James a watch, with no doubt from the best watchmaker in the entirety of Scotland, and a flask for William, decorated with an intricate design of plants and various flowers.

“Cheers.” He said, happily.

He then gave Abraxas and Victor their gifts.

Both of their packages were the exact same size, and they ended up being two brand new brooms. The rest, who weren’t in the team, looked quizzically at the three boys trying to guess where all of the excitement was coming from. After all, all three of them had brooms already.

“It’s the Nimbus 1700, a new broom that has just been released. Barely anyone has been able to get their hands on it.” Laurence explained.

“It is said to be the fastest broom on the market yet.” Victor said, excitedly.

After that, he gave a package to Adelaine, Tom and Arabella.

He had gotten her a dark grey fur coat.

“It’s real augurey hair.” He explained.

“It’s lovely, thanks.” She said, beaming.

Adelaine received a purse, apparently made of crocodile skin.

As for Tom, he had gifted him an antique dagger, with a black handle and a snake carved onto the blade.

Like he needed any more tools to inflict pain on others, Arabella thought to herself.

Lastly, it was turn for Veronica’s gift.

He gave her a thin black box.

Veronica left out a gasp, and looked at him in disbelief, before leaving the box besides her on the couch and wrapping him in a tight hug.

Laurence’s face two shades redder.

“Thank you so much!”

“Oh… don’t worry, it was totally nothing.”

After she pulled away, she opened the box once more, and pulled out a necklace.

It was probably the most beautiful necklace Arabella had ever seen, and probably the most expensive, as well. It was made of platinum and diamonds, more diamonds than one could ever dream of. Shaped like tears, leaves, round… they came in every shape and size, it seemed.

“I swear to Salazar he’s gotten completely mental.” Abraxas said from a few feet away.


	20. Chapter 20

In the end, it appeared that some of the others had also gifts prepared. More like Arabella had, just for those they were closest to, and they weren’t all given at the same time in the drawing room, but instead in the parts of the day when one found the other sitting by themselves.

When the friend hunting mission ended, Arabella took some parchment and books to the library.

It was smaller than the one at Hogwarts, but it was equally as cozy.

Upon entering the room, she noticed that she wasn’t alone, as James was sitting by himself a few tables away.

He raised his head slightly when he noticed her presence, and moved his things slightly so that she could join him.

There were multiple books opened and countless pieces of parchment scattered along the place, as well as some moving photographs.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she took a seat in front of him.

“Just working on some project.” 

“Is it for class?” she asked, as most of the books talked about different magical creatures. She didn’t take care for magical creatures, she was too squeamish for that, but it surely did seem like an interesting class.

“Nah, just a personal project. It’s rather boring, really.”

She tilted her head slightly. “I’m sure that’s not the truth. Come on, tell me, what is it about?”

He handed her some of the photographs.

The first one was of some animal that closely resembled a cat, yet its ears and tail made it obvious that it wasn’t. 

“This isn’t a cat, is it?”

“It’s a kneazle. They are interesting creatures, very independent, and they can apparently tell distrustful people, which is why some people often keep them around to guard their homes. I heard the Flint family owns a couple.”

The next picture was of a gray bird, looking rather similar to a vulture.

“What’s this one?”

“It's an augurey.”

“I think that’s what my coat’s made of.”

“It is, yes. It’s quite common unfortunately that people use their feathers for fashion. There are barely any left in the United Kingdom because of it.”

“Pity.” Arabella said in a whisper.

Not wanting to remember the animal when she wore her coat, she decided to move onto the next photograph.

It showed a creature with grey skin, an incredibly long neck and big, bug-like eyes. She turned it around for him to see.

“That’s a mooncalf. They only come out during the full moon, and when they like to dance on their hind legs when they are under the moonlight.”

“That 's cute.”

“I suppose.”

“Do you want to be a photographer then, or what?” she asked.

“Well, yes, but not exactly. You see, I got a camera a few years ago and since I already write about the creatures I learn about I thought that it might be a good idea to take some pictures of them and then perhaps… I don’t know… perhaps write a book about them one day, or something.” 

James was one of those people that walked with their back straightened, that whenever he spoke in class, people felt inclined to listen, because confidence always radiated off him.

But in that very moment, when he talked about his passion and his dreams, his gaze wasn’t meeting hers. He was looking down at the table, playing with his hands as he spoke, it was almost a child-like look.

“That sounds great. A bit like Scamander, then?”

“I’m not too sure, we’ll have to see. I know him, you know?” he said. “Newt, I mean.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded. “Mother managed to introduce him to me. She has a friend that had a friend that had a friend… you know how it is.”

She gave him an impressed look. 

After that, they kept talking for a little while, before they both began working.

\---

The clock hands moved once again, and the clock finally hit eleven.

Up until that point, she had been wondering if attending was a good idea or not.

On one hand, she knew he brought the worst parts of her to the surface. Her temper seemed to dissipate as soon as he entered the room and as Abraxas had pointed out, she didn’t quite know how to shut up. 

But on the other hand, she knew that she would always go. Even if his last name and danger meant one and the same thing.

So, without further consideration, she took her wand and left the room.

He was already there when she arrived, sitting down in a leather armchair.

“You’re five minutes late.” he greeted.

Instead of responding, she took a seat in front of him, crossing one leg on top of the other.

Her skirt hitched up as she did so, and his eyes went to immediately trace every inch of her legs. 

It only lasted for a second, before she fixed her skirt and began speaking.

“What did you want, Tom?”

“How’s Malfoy doing?”

“If you don’t care, why do you ask?”

He tutted. “Not very friendly, are we?”

“Would you expect me to, after all that you’ve done?” she said, holding his head.

“I wouldn’t be that catty if I were you, Arabella. I’m meeting your lover boy Victor tonight, I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him.”

Not bothering in hiding her sentiments, she let out an irritated huff. “First of all, Victor’s not my loverboy-” she got cut off by him. “Oh, that’s true. You two are not talking at the moment, isn’t that so?”

He looked at her expectantly, waiting for a response. He could see her getting aggravated by the second from the way her shoulders seemed to tense and her back straightened even further, sort of like an animal trying to appear bigger in front of a predator in hopes that they wouldn’t be eaten, but in his world that had a small rate of success.

“You’re such a cunt.” she said after a few seconds, the words dripping with venom. 

“Language, Selwyn.” he said as a small smirk began tugging at the right corner of his mouth.

She got up from her seat then, and strode towards the door. 

“Are you not going to listen to what I have to say, the reason I called you in the first place?”

“Oh, so you had other plans other than riling me up? That’s surprising.” 

He tried to speak, but as soon as the first sounds left his mouth he was cut off again. 

“I don’t care what you have to say, nothing you say matters to me anyway.” she said, already by the door and grabbing the handle.

His smirk grew wider. 

“Then why did you come?”

She looked at him one last time, before closing the door with a thud so loud even the portraits began whispering about the origin of the sudden noise.

His mind was still lingering on her words, the venom of her voice repeating itself over and over like a chant. 

A cunt, she had called him. It hadn’t been the first time he had been called that same thing. 

Kids in the orphanage were never the nicest, but yet again one would find it hard to grow up conforming to social standards of politeness and adequacy when every time any of the children angered the matron she reminded them of how alone they were in the world, the fact that they were penniless and that apart from the orphanage they really had nothing. 

Like a seven year old should have to thank her for keeping them alive and fed. The rest of the staff mostly ignored them, which on some instances was better, as the only times they actually heard them speaking insults would be constantly flowing out of their mouths.

It was probably where most of the kids learnt them from. 

Perhaps it was also that same disdain from the adults that began shaping the characters of the children they were supposed to care for. 

His hand went involuntarily to his forehead, brushing his fingers lightly against a tiny white scar, right by his hairline on the right side of his face, always hidden by his curls. Not that one would have been able to see it even with the hair out of the way, it was far too faded and even sometimes when he looked at himself in the mirror he still found it hard to locate it.

He had gotten it during a fight with one of the kids.

_ It had happened right after leaving the dimly lit room they called the dining hall, nothing in comparison to where they served the meals at Hogwarts. Even though it seemed sanitary enough, it always smelled slightly musty, and because the windows faced the north barely any sun got in during the day. The walls were covered in old floral wallpaper, and the painting from the ceilings had begun peeling a long time ago, but no one had done anything.  _

_ He distinctly remembered barely eating anything that night, he never did on the days where they served onion soup. _

_ He had been making his way towards his room, which was number 27, when he encountered Billy Stubbs. _

_ The details of the conversation were blurry, but it was easy to assume Billy had called him a weirdo. It seemed like following him around to insult him was one of his favorite hobbies, seeing how much he did it. _

_ Even if he didn’t know what he answered, he still knew that he did, due to the events that followed. _

_ Billy had shoved him, and the anger completely blinded Tom’s senses. _

_ In just a moment, Billy was bringing his hands to his throat, unable to breath, like someone was choking him, but there was nobody there. _

_ He looked at Tom, his eyes glimmering with fear, and Tom discovered that he felt no remorse and more so, it made him feel good, powerful and in total control. _

_ The sound of footsteps distracted him though, even if they weren’t approaching them and as during the time he had no type of control over his magic, he broke his control on him. That was when Billy shoved him once again, sending Tom crashing against the corner of a cabinet. _

_ He helped himself up, and brought a hand to his head. It was wet, and his hair sticky. _

_ Looking at his palm, his fingers were tainted with crimson red. _

_ He had to go find Ms.Cole after that. The woman scolded him, actually scolded him, like if he’d possibly wanted to have an open wound on his head. _

_ He had to get stitches, and he wasn’t allowed to go to the small garden on the back of the building for fifteen days, but it didn’t matter, because Tom knew that the only thing Billy Stubbs cared about other than himself was his rabbit. _

_ That same night after he came back from the hospital he snuck into his room, which was only two doors away from his, and grabbed the animal by its ears before sneaking back into his own room. _

_ Still holding the animal by the ears in one hand, he held its body with the other and snapped its head off, a wicked smile plastered on his face the whole time. _

_ Putting the dead animal back on its cage wasn’t enough, naturally, so he tried to think of the place most people would be able to see it, and eventually decided on the rafters. _

_ A few hours after he heard a strangled cry coming from Billy’s room, calling Ms.Cole because his rabbit had disappeared. _

_ It didn’t take them much to eventually find the dead animal, and because there was no evidence linking him to the act, he got off the hook, even if from the look Stubb had given him he knew for a fact that Billy knew it had been him to kill the thing. _

_ When he had looked at him his eyes had been red and swollen, he hadn’t cried in public, but it was obvious that he had been doing just that in his room. Even without tears though the despair and emptiness was obvious to everyone and that was the best revenge he had felt in his short years of life. _


	21. Chapter 21

The ball was finally held on the 31st of December, all of the days until that passing by in a blur.

It was eight in the evening and the girls were getting ready in Adelaine’s room. Clothes, bottles of sleekeazy's Hair Potion and makeup covered all of the surfaces in the room.

“Are you excited about meeting Alexander?” Veronica said as she did the finishing touches to her hair.

“I don’t know if excited would be the right word… I guess I’m just curious.”

“Well, who knows? Perhaps he will be the man of your dreams,” she moved from her position and moved to sit by Arabella, who was finishing up her makeup, and placed her head on her shoulder. 

“He’ll have brown hair, and he’ll be intelligent and will never contradict you.” Veronica said with a dreamy grin plastered on her face.

Arabella’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean he won’t contradict me?”

“You certainly don’t like it when people don’t agree with you on things.” Arabella shoved her playfully to the side.

“Vero, is Laurence going to finally introduce you to his parents?” Adelaine asked from the other side of the room.

“Oh-I… I don’t think so I mean… I didn’t even know they were going and it’s not like we’re together or anything like that.”

“What are you waiting for? You’re going to be eighty and all wrinkly at this rate when you finally make a move on him.” Arabella said.

“I don’t know I just-,” Veronica stopped talking for a second as she moved across the room, sitting in one of the corners of the bed that wasn’t covered by their things.

“I like him a lot, you know? And he’s always been one to do flings and date casually and all that, which is totally okay, it’s almost the middle of the twentieth century anyway, people can do whatever they want, but I want more than that and… yeah. I don’t know, I guess I’m scared that when I finally give in he won’t want anything more.”

Adelaine sat besides her on the bed, drawing soft circles on her palm.

“And have you told him that?” Adelaine asked.

“I’ve hinted about it, I suppose.” Veronica answered in a quiet tone.

“From what I’ve seen, Laurence seems to be just as heads over heels for you as you are for him,” Veronica’s face immediately reddened as she heard Arabella speak, “but still, maybe just talk to him about it and explicitly tell him what you want, you know? At the end of the day, if you’re planning on getting in a relationship with him he better be someone you feel comfortable talking to.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Veronica concluded after a few seconds.

They stood in silence for a moment, before Adelaine got up from the bed, Veronica following shortly after. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

The room fell silent as they walked down the stairs from the first floor to the ground floor, everyone in attendance watching them closely.

Arabella wore the green velvet dress her father had sent her. It showed her shoulders, the light skin tainted slightly with the presence of a few scattered freckles. It fitted her perfectly, and danced with her to one and every movement. Her hair had been done into an updo, but a few hairs to the front had remained free, curled with a spell Veronica had casted. Pearls decorated her ears and neck, and a few silver rings adorned her slender fingers.

Adelaine’s dress was also green, but it was a lighter shade than Arabella’s, closer to an olive green. It was made of silk with spaghetti straps that stopped right over her ankles, allowing her to show off her heels. 

In a way, from the rich contrast it created against her skin and the way it flowed with every movement, it almost looked like Adelaine was the only person that had ever been meant to wear the dress, as it wouldn’t have looked as good on anybody else. She was also embedded in her best pieces of jewelry, from diamonds dangling off her neck to citrine decorating her ears and wrist, with matching bracelets and earrings.

Veronica had ended up going with a mermaid shaped black dress, a colour much different from the usual light colours she usually wore. It followed every curve of her body closely and it also allowed her back to be seen, only elongated by the updo she had done, pearl head vine holding everything in place. 

Even if she wasn’t usually one for heels, nobody would have been able to notice, as she hadn’t lost any of her poise. Rich rubies bled onto the golden skin of her chest, the golden chain matching the material from her earrings. 

The entirety of the room had been transformed, the furniture had been taken away making the room appear even bigger than before. Ice statues decorated the room, and close to the ceiling it seemed like snow began to fall, yet a charm stopped it before it could reach anyone. All of the decorations were in white and silver, adding to the invernal theme.

The boys were waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, Laurence grinning widely at Veronica and William watching Adelaine dreamily. Tom, who was also there, was looking Arabella up and down. As soon as she noticed she looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. He looked away after that.

“You girls look fantastic.” James said as they reached them. Just as the people began talking again, the opening of a door made the room fall silent once more.

Arabella’s father appeared first, and following slightly behind were three people nobody seemed to know, but it was obvious to her that they would most likely be the Kaiser family.

The woman, Alexander’s mother, was dressed in a black ball gown. She was a tall and slender woman, with chestnut colored hair that had been placed in a tight bun, her expression was stoic, her lips pursed into a tight line. 

Besides her was her husband, Mr.Kaiser. His expression was equally as stoic, but he had light blonde hair and was about an inch shorter than his wife.

Behind them was their son, the tallest out of them. He had a lean figure and his father’s blonde hair. It was wavy and it reached his eyebrows. His expression wasn’t stoic, unlike his parents, but instead he had a smirk plastered on his face and seemed to wink at every single woman under twenty five years old in the room, if that was even possible seeing the long list of people in attendance.

“Cheeky little twat he is.” William said when Alexander’s attention lingered on Adelaine.

When his eyes landed on Arabella, at first with the inclination of sparing her that same treatment, he seemed to stop for a moment, finally recognizing her.

He approached the group then, making both William and Mulciber stand with their backs straightened to an impossible degree.

He offered his hand for her to shake, and as she placed her hand on his he quickly moved it to meet his lips, placing a soft kiss on her knuckles. 

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” he said as he let her hand drop.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” she answered back, in an almost rehearsed way. 

Far away from them, Alexander’s parents frantically called him over.

“I’ll see you later,” he said, grinning, “save me a dance, will you?”

“Of course.” Arabella responded, forcing a smile onto her lips as he left their side.

Just as conversation between them began after their interruption, soft music echoed in the room, bringing attention onto the first waltz of the night, which was also the most important one.

A hand immediately gripped her arm and pulled her forward, and turning around in shock, her eyes met Tom’s dark ones, as he dragged her along where some couples began to dance.

“What are you doing?” she asked, incredulous, as he offered his hand for her to take.

She still held his hand, now that they were in the center of the room it would attract too much attention to simply leave him hanging.

“I’m waltzing.” Tom answered, like it was obvious.

As the dance began she turned her head slightly, her eyes first landing on Abraxas, who looked as surprised as she had, and then on her father, who didn’t seem to approve of her decision to dance with someone other than Alexander.

“You know that the first dance is the most important one, and that it would be traditional that I danced it with Alexander, right?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow, as she followed his lead.

“Must’ve slipped my mind.” he replied, nonchalantly.

His touch seemed to burn against her skin. At first she had considered that it was due to the hatred she swore to feel, but never when their skin had come in contact in the past had she felt this way. It was hard to understand, her skin feeling tingly and almost on fire and at the same time she wanted to pull away and escape the sensation but also keep on dancing until the death of the night.

Looking up at him through her lashes, his expression was as stone cold as ever, and still trying to determine if it was only her that was feeling that way, his eyes met hers. “For someone that swears to hate me so much you do enjoy staring at me a fair chance.”

“I do hate you.” she responded as he twirled them around.

“I know.” he answered.

As they moved, she noticed that their movements were closely followed by the eyes of multiple people in the room, and truth was, they worked quite well together, even allowing herself to believe for a brief second that their hands seemed to perfectly mold together. “We’re gathering everyone's attention.” he said, apparently paying as much attention to the crowd as she was.

But the magic was sadly short lived, as the music died down seconds after, forcing them to pull away. 

He moved towards their group without even sparing her a glance, and she began to follow his steps shortly after, when a voice coming from her right interrupted her.

“May I have my dance now?” Alexander said, holding his hand out.

She got once again lost in the sea of twirling dresses, as the next song began.

“Enjoyed yourself there, with that one?” he said as he motioned with his head to where Tom was standing. He was chatting with Laurence, but his eyes remained fixated on her.

“Not really.”

“Didn’t seem that way.” his scrutinizing eyes never left her face.

“He’s just a classmate.”

“Alright.” he ended up saying and dropping the topic.

“Had you ever been to Scotland before?” she asked, the uncomfortable silence even with the music playing in the background being too unbearable.

“No. I don’t like traveling much, personally. Everything I could possibly want I can get in Germany, so why would I need to travel?”

She didn’t respond.

“You haven’t been to Germany, have you?” 

She moved her head, signaling no. 

“Your father told me. Don’t worry, you’ll love it when you move there.”

A sudden weight seemed to drop in her stomach, as if she was just beginning to realize. That same man that she was currently dancing with was the same man she was supposed to marry, the same man she was supposed to learn a language and move to a different country for.

Truthfully, she only wished to escape. Away from him and from everyone, to a land where nobody would know her name, making all of her problems disappear at once, except of course, that wasn’t true and she cared too much about her reputation to actually pull through with the plan.

“You’ve gone quiet.” he said after a few seconds, just as the music was once again coming to an end.

“Oh, sorry, I got lost deep in thought.” 

As the music finally came to a stop, Arabella quickly scurried away taking advantage of the density of the crowd.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... hey y'all... I feel so terrible for not updating in such a long time but I've had so much to do during these past weeks that I literally had no time to write whatsoever. Anyway, here's a new chapter, hopefully I'll manage to write another one tonight?? or perhaps tomorrow?? I want to write as much as I can now that I have the time for it, but I'm not making any promises on when I'll manage to update again. Anyways, thanks a lot to everyone who has given the story a chance and has gotten this far!! It truly means the world to me. Sorry again for the delay :( <3

Eventually reaching the gardens, she made her way into the night. Closing the door behind her, the only sounds that could be heard were the faint sound of music and conversation coming from the inside and the soft sound of the wind as it traveled through the branches of the trees.

It hadn’t snowed yet since they’d arrived at the manor, but standing there in that moment, the first flakes started dancing in the air, helped by the soft wind, and unlike inside, in the ballroom, they didn’t stop before hitting the ground, touching her hair and skin.

She had left her wand upstairs, but even if she had brought it with her she wouldn’t have dared to use any spell in that moment, almost fearful to distract the small flakes from their choreography.

She fell in a trance, watching the snow and the stars, and just simply sat on the floor, looking at them, until her peace was broken when she heard the door being opened behind her. 

“Your father’s looking for you.” Abraxas said.

An involuntary groan left her lips, but she still got up and fixed her dress before heading inside.

After a brief scan of the room she was able to locate her father, talking with a ministry worker she had only seen in parties such as the one that they were currently in.

“Good evening, Mr.Greengrass.” she greeted the man once she reached her father.

“Good evening, Arabella, enjoying yourself?” he asked, a polite smile perched on his face. She nodded, but didn’t say anything.

The man then turned to her father. “Well, Mr.Selwyn, I’ll leave you two alone, see you on Monday.” 

They watched him leave in silence, and once he was out of view, consumed by the crowd, her father turned to face her.

“Who was that boy you danced with?” 

“He’s Tom Riddle, the Head Boy of the school.”

Her father raised an eyebrow, clearly curious. “I don’t think I’ve heard that last name before.” he went silent for a few seconds, before he continued speaking. “Either way, what you did tonight was too impulsive. It is important that you maintain a good reputation, Arabella, and dancing with multiple men… it wouldn’t be perceived well by some.”

She lowered her head slightly, looking at her shoes. “I’m sorry father, I wasn’t thinking about it.” she said through gritted teeth.

“You should leave and go to bed early, tomorrow we’ll be leaving so you can spend your last days of holidays getting to know Alexander.”

Her head shot up after hearing him. “I didn’t know they were planning to stay.”

“Well, naturally they wouldn’t have visited from Germany just to attend a ball.”

“Of course.”

Tom, who had been watching the exchange attentively, felt fascinated by the sudden change in Arabella’s demeanour from what he was used to seeing. He wasn’t able to hear what they were saying, but from the way her fists were clenched at her side, knuckles almost turning white, and the clear tension on her posture, he could tell that she didn’t like whatever it was that she was being told. 

And it was almost surreal, to see her dropping her gaze and accepting whatever it was that made her uneasy. He didn’t like it, he realized, for even if he hated her stubbornness and her quick temper, he hated even more her submission, as it was as if all life had been drawn off her, leaving only a soft trace of a shadow behind, making her almost unrecognizable.

He slowly approached the two, not only had his curiosity taken the best of him, he also wanted to finally put their relationship to good use and meet the minister. 

“I don’t believe we’ve ever met, Mr.Selwyn,” he said as he approached them. “Arabella.” He said to her in greeting, before turning to look at her father once more. 

The minister held his hand out, Tom wasted no time in shaking it as he forced a charming smile onto his face.

“Tom, wasn’t it?” her father said. 

“Yes, sir. Tom Riddle.”

“Oh, I was just talking about this with Arabella. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that last name around wizards here. If you don’t mind me asking, what do your parents do?”

A look of uncertainty flashed across Tom’s features, but it disappeared almost as fast as it appeared to the point where Arabella was left to wonder if it had even been there at all.

“I understand, I know it’s not a common last name. They are land owners, living mostly of rents and investments. They would’ve loved it here tonight, but they sadly couldn’t come.”

“Oh well, perhaps next time then.” His attention diverted from the teenage boy as his eyes landed on a Ministry worker. “I shall get going now, enjoy your night Tom.” he turned to his daughter then. “Remember what I told you, I’ll be here at nine.”

Head Boy and Head Girl turned to look at each other. “Land owners, you say?” Arabella said, breaking the silence.

“Indeed.”

\---

Sleeping that night was not easy, worry seemed to consume every pore of her skin and cloud her mind until resting became an impossible mission.

When her father finally picked her up, a long list of goodbyes were said even though they would be seeing each other in just two days. Already at home, it was as if fog was completely covering her brain, disorienting her slightly and making it difficult to even manipulate objects, even worse, her eyelids felt incredibly heavy, and opening them after blinking seemed like an effort in itself.

The worst part of it all came after, when the Kaiser's came over. She was quick to notice how little did they actually have in common and how backwards Alexander’s mind seemed to be, going as far as making a comment about him being the one to decide what sorts of magic his future wife would be able to use someday, but none of the adults seemed to even flinch.

The night after that wasn’t any better and as the hours went by, the night blending into the next day, a sharp pain began forming in her temples, and when the first rays of sunshine came through the windows of her room, it was accompanied with shaking hands and a painful ringing in her right ear.

Just the lovely thing to have when they were supposed to go back to the school.

That was what she had planned, at least, but as soon as she tried getting up she realized that the dizziness didn’t seem like it was going to go away anytime soon, and even after taking an extra dose of medicine, the symptoms only became slightly milder.

It wasn’t the first time something of the sort had happened, both in her third and fifth year she had had to spend multiple days at a time at St.Mungos, but back then she didn’t have the responsibilities that she had now.

Telling her father didn't seem like the best plan at first because it would end up up forcing the Kaiser family to leave earlier as his father dealt with her and he would most likely end up being annoyed but as she got up to try and hopefully get dressed, the world faded to black around her as she lost her balance.

Opening her eyes, she realize that she wasn't at home anymore, but instead in a room with white walls that smelled slightly of herbs. Turning her head around, she met a healer's gaze that stood by the bed, who quickly filled her in with the things that had happened. Apparently she had made a rather loud noise when falling to the ground alarming her father, who had found her unconscious. A few healers were called, but after looking at her medical history they decided that it was better that she was taken to the hospital. 

She wished on getting back to the school and away from there, to a place where not everyone was constantly mentioning her deteriorating state, looking at her with pitied eyes and talking like she wasn’t there.

In a way, Tom’s brashness was something she was almost thankful for, although perhaps not completely, because being on the receiving end of his foul treatment wasn’t something to be thankful for, but at least she wasn’t treated like a child.

Apparently the effect of the blood curse on her had gotten even stronger, making her immune system even weaker, and when she had asked them about her life expectancy they hadn’t given her an answer but instead handed her a sleeping draught.

During the second day at the hospital, a raven colored owl dropped a letter. It was clear it was from the Malfoy’s before she even opened the letter.

“Dear Arabella, 

How are you doing? 

Your father visited Dippet last night and I might have overheard a little bit of their conversation, we were all concerned when we didn’t see you at the train station! 

Victor won’t admit it, but he’s dead worried for you. Laurence did ask me to tell you to get better soon though, and I think you might receive an owl from the girls today too. 

Tom was a bit pissed when you didn’t appear though, apparently he had to guide all younger students by himself and he said something about having to deal with some potion by himself as well, I assume he meant the one from the assignment, so good luck with that when you come back, I guess.

I hope the hospital food is not too bad, get well soon and make sure to write back!

Kind regards, Abraxas.”

There was a knock on the door and shortly after it was opened, revealing her father standing on the other side.

Albert made his way onto the room, taking a seat in an armchair in the corner. He looked uncharacteristically nervous, and as he sat down he played with the ends of his jacket, avoiding his daughter’s gaze.

After a few moments, he was able to look up. yet still fidgeting with the ends of the fabric.

“I talked to the healers, you’ll most likely have to stay here for a few more days. I already talked to the Headmaster, your professors know that you’re ill so there won’t be any problems regarding attendance.” he stayed silent for a moment. “You must know that I expect you to work hard after you get back, dropping grades is not an option of course.” he repeated the same message he had drilled into her head, but this time, even if grades and honor had always been important to him, it was said almost in a whisper, more out of habit than out of feeling.

“Of course, father.” she said in the same way, out of habit.

He turned to look out of the window. It was a rainy day, droplets had been clicking against the window for the entirety of the day and a soft wind made the branches of the trees close by dance and create a soft echo.

He turned to look at her after some seconds, getting up from the armchair and walking to stand by the bed.

“You look so much like your mother.” he said in a pained whisper, one hand coming forward but then stopping itself, gripping the end of the jacket once more instead.

“I must get going now, I have business in the Ministry I need to attend to.” He said all too quickly, while making his way towards the door.

“Father, please…” Arabella started saying in a whisper, but the words died in her tongue.

He didn’t look at her again, until he reached the door and gripped the handle, opening it. 

“I’ll try to come by tomorrow.” He said before disappearing and closing the door behind him.


End file.
